The Culture of the Shami Community in Public Parks in Riyadh City: Ethnographic Study

Abstract

The aim of the study was to identify the cultural and social backgrounds of the Shami community while attending public parks in Riyadh city, and to reveal the reasons for their outings, in addition to identifying the difference and cultural and social similarity between the practices carried out by Shami families & those carried out by Saudi families. The study applied the ethnographic approach, and interviews and observation were adopted as the tools of the study. The study sample consisted of 6 Shami woman who were interviewed. The study resulted in many results, most notably are the following: one of the similarities between the Shami community and Saudi families while going to public parks is the preference for both of them to sit on the floor as supposed to sitting on the designated chairs, also both families prefer bringing coffee and shahi to the garden, and the differences were the preference of the Shami community to walk in the neighborhood for the purpose of hiking and running errands, unlike Saudi families