Beyond the Bedouin path: The evolution of Emirati national identity

The UAE will rejoice the fiftieth anniversary of the qiyam al-dawla (institution of the state) and qiyam al-ittihad (institution of the federation of seven emirates) on Dec. 2. Since 1971, when the emirates regrouped underneath the steering of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the Emirati political elite has addressed the advanced duties of constructing a useful bureaucratic equipment whereas shaping the nation’s id. An oil-based mannequin knowledgeable this state-building course of and the expectations of residents for many years, however the nation now faces a extra advanced atmosphere. New challenges such because the rising youth inhabitants, the drive towards sustainability, and altering patterns inside the international financial system have an effect on the present Emirati political agenda; nevertheless, the UAE management should stability the pressing seek for modern methods with Emirati haweeya al-watani (nationwide id) and turath (heritage).

Praising the tribe: The origins of nationwide id

Id attracts on what Benedict Anderson termed “imagined communities,”[1] and is the result of a binary distinction between a so-called “us” and “the opposite.” This course of of selecting who’s included and who’s excluded produces a way of belonging that reproduces and adapts itself to deal with new challenges and calls for. That mentioned, identities will not be essentially an expression of a black-or-white, extremely segmented, and rigidly compartmentalized understanding of the world. In lots of circumstances, id doesn’t indicate a mutual exclusion, and completely different teams overlap, giving rise to a blurred patchwork of multidimensional affiliations.

The UAE represents an exemplary case of peaceable coexistence between apparently dichotomous identities. Greater than 80% of its inhabitants is non-national and contains residents with completely different non secular and cultural beliefs, and that doesn’t embody the rising influx of vacationers. Modernity dominates the whole lot from the structure of Abu Dhabi and Dubai to the know-how that drives the financial system. As a substitute of a conflict between the “transient populations,”[2] modernity, and custom, Emirati id has developed by accepting these variations. “Essentially the most highly effective pressure behind the formation of a nationwide id within the UAE was the collective expertise of modernization,”[3] notes Matthew MacLean, a analysis fellow for the examine of the Arab World at New York College: Abu Dhabi.

The unprecedented well-being caused by the state-led means of oil-financed modernization within the early Seventies revolutionized the person, societal, and concrete spheres of day by day life within the UAE. By means of welfare companies, large infrastructure initiatives, and the distribution of public jobs and residences, the federation grew to become a visual and dependable political entity. The fast transformation from nomadic life to modernity created a brand new id within the creativeness of the Emirati inhabitants and was the widespread nationwide fable round which Emiratis outlined themselves.[4]

Parallel to the “materials modernization”[5] of the nation, the UAE additionally promoted the picture of the federation over bay’ah (political allegiance) to a particular emirate. This try at nation constructing confronted obstacles, nevertheless, and chief amongst them was tribal affiliation. The newly born state had no specific which means or enchantment to Emiratis, whereas one’s tribe was a tangible and deeply rooted supply of belonging that had oriented the collective creativeness for hundreds of years. To beat this so-called “twin id”[6] advanced, the UAE state anchored its efforts to form the Emirati nationwide id on tribal Bedouin heritage. As a substitute of framing tribal affiliation as a menace to the state id, the federation hailed native loyalty as an indication of “pure Arabness.” This not solely defused potential battle, however grew to become a constructing block for the nation and a significant supply of energy.[7]

Elaborating on the concepts of anthropologist Arjun Appadurai on the position of the previous as a supply of information and authority,[8] one can say that the UAE embraced the Bedouin previous in its nation-building effort and allowed the emergence of a “heritage-legitimacy-authority nexus.” This technique achieved a continuum between the tribe, the emirate, and the federation, and granted the nationwide management the legitimacy and credentials to have its political authority widely known and accepted by residents. This course of didn’t go unchallenged although. Requires additional centralization intensified divisions between “unequal brothers,”[9] the southern richest emirates vis-à-vis their northern cousins with out pure assets. Even via these durations of battle, nevertheless, the tribe-based Emirati nationwide id held agency.

The primary wave of nation constructing ended within the Nineteen Nineties. With the acceleration of globalization, the UAE carried out plenty of measures to deal with the more and more aggressive atmosphere. The heightened consciousness of worldwide pressures has unexpectedly renewed the search for nationwide belonging. “Globalization has been accompanied by a booming curiosity in Emirati heritage,”[10] McLean notes. This second wave was pushed by state-led and grassroots initiatives which have proven the resiliency of the concept of Emirati id.

Rewriting the social contract … through Snapchat: Id for the digital age

Relating to nationwide id, the UAE state remains to be in “the driving seat,”[11] as NYUAD Center East scholar Nelida Fuccaro places it. The central authorities promoted “the unstoppable march towards progress, civilization, and happiness”[12] through the oil-based period and nonetheless does so now within the hyper-globalized world. The distinction is that whereas the UAE as soon as was a latecomer attempting its greatest to maintain up with modernity, the nation is now dedicated to getting into the worldwide financial system from a place of energy and management. “The discourse on nationwide id considerations a terrific deal concerning the stability between custom and modernization,”[13] affirms Courtney Freer, provost’s postdoctoral fellow at Emory College. “The UAE needs to proceed to modernize and stay globally aggressive while sustaining its conventional id.”

The UAE authorities goals to develop what Calvert W. Jones has known as “globalization-ready residents,”[14] people who’re “extra market-oriented, entrepreneurial, and civic minded; extremely patriotic; much less government-dependent; and bored with politics.”[15] To realize this purpose, the UAE needs to reform its home financial system and promote trendy values in its official narrative. The opening phrases of UAE Imaginative and prescient 2021, the blueprint orienting the nation’s policy-making since 2014, are emblematic of the rhetoric the federal government makes use of to advertise this alteration in mindset: “Work is a real criterion of citizenship,” writes Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and emir of Abu Dhabi. “It’s proof of sincerity and loyalty.”[16]

The UAE state is encouraging a shift within the idea of citizenship, which is not understood as mere entitlement to state-provided advantages, however as requiring a extra lively engagement by the inhabitants. This course of has been dubbed by Jones because the “making of residents 2.0,”[17] and describes “the problem of constructing residents ‘after’ the period of nationalism, when states have already got populations who know ‘who’ they’re, have to focus much less on getting ready them to struggle on the battlefield, and discover themselves having to compete in more and more aggressive international markets.”[18] Because the socioeconomic results of globalization are felt in any respect ranges of society within the UAE, “the social profit to which residents have grow to be accustomed is probably not sustainable, with residents’ expectations needing to be scaled again and the social contract renegotiated.”[19] The federal government is thus selling a brand new Emirati nationwide id, one which embraces globalization because the nation strikes away from the mannequin of a “cradle-to-grave welfare state.”[20]

Throughout the previous couple of years, the social engineering course of has accelerated considerably with liberal reforms that place the nation as a safe, business-friendly, and welcoming atmosphere in a area identified for battle and instability. In March 2016, the federal government created two new Ministries of State — one for Tolerance and Coexistence and one other for Happiness[21] — and launched the UAE Constitution of Tolerance.[22] A yr later, the management established the UAE Mushy Energy Council. These bulletins reassured nationals concerning the nation’s financial efficiency and stable worldwide repute, whereas signaling to international residents and worldwide observers that the UAE is a contemporary nation that’s enticing for funding and migration.[23]

Main institutional reforms have been coupled with insurance policies aimed toward fostering confidence for vacationers and non-nationals residing within the nation. For instance, Cupboard Decision No. 56 (2018) established a 10-year-long Golden Visa scheme for buyers and information financial system specialists.[24] In November 2020, plenty of “secular-leaning reforms”[25] eliminated the specter of prosecution for behaviors corresponding to alcohol consumption, out-of-marriage cohabitation, and tried suicide. In January 2021, it was introduced {that a} choose group of expatriates might grow to be Emirati residents with out giving up their unique nationality,[26] whereas a lately permitted decree permits non-Muslims to handle marriage, divorce, and joint youngster custody via civil quite than shari’a regulation.[27]

The language of tolerance is deeply embedded inside the UAE official state narrative, and it has been efficiently institutionalized via flagship initiatives. The development of the Abrahamic Household Home, anticipated to open in 2022, is a contemporary regrouping of worship locations from the three Abrahamic monotheistic religions in a single constructing.[28] One other instance is the launch of the World Tolerance Alliance on the Worldwide Day of Tolerance on the Italian Expo Pavilion in November, an initiative centered on selling international efforts for peaceable coexistence amongst societies.[29] As well as, as Courtney Freer factors out, “In recent times, faith, and notably the notion of reasonable Islam, has additionally been promoted as a part of Emirati id.”[30]

The Tasks of the 50, the roadmap guiding the nation’s growth over the subsequent many years, was introduced in September 2021. The plan contains insurance policies to enhance the attractiveness of the UAE as a aggressive, business-friendly atmosphere; on the similar time it suggests measures aimed toward encouraging Emirati residents to grow to be full members within the non-public sector’s growth.[31] The nation’s Golden Jubilee celebrations and accompanying World Expo present an ideal backdrop to point out off the nation’s adherence to the worldwide system and its norms and current the brand new values of Emirati nationwide id to a home and worldwide viewers.
 

You may be completed with the previous, however the previous is just not completed with you

Though the UAE authorities’s official narrative is clearly based mostly on openness and liberal values, Osman Antwi-Boateng and Amira Ali Alhashimi word that “the embrace of worldwide norms corresponding to non secular tolerance wouldn’t mechanically solicit common approval amongst conservative residents.”[32] A face-to-face survey of 152 UAE residents in 2019 carried out by Dubai’s Analysis Konnection helps this evaluation. Solely 34% of interviewees agreed with the assertion: “Communities within the UAE must be Given Rights to Observe Their Traditions.” The remaining 66% both disagreed, mentioned they have been impartial, or declined to reply.[33]

Regardless of the federal government’s push for a globalization-ready society, the Bedouin part of the UAE heritage has skilled a renewal. Conventional Emirati id has grow to be an accessible and consumable good for each nationals and foreigners, and is the main focus of a number of cultural, instructional, sport, and gastronomy initiatives.[34] The Qasr al-Hosn Pageant in Abu Dhabi and the SIKKA Artwork Truthful in Dubai entice each nationals and vacationers concerned about exploring the nation’s conventional music, poetry, and crafts.[35] Festivals and leisure occasions such because the Worldwide Falconry Pageant and the Arab Heritage Saluki Race Pageant have grow to be standard in recent times as properly. These “trendy heritage sports activities,”[36] together with camel racing and mahmel (conventional rowing boat) racing, additionally nurture a way of nationwide cohesion. “[Sports help] people to think about themselves as belonging to a discrete ‘nation’ and to internalise the geopolitical imagery of a world divided into nations,” writes Sarah Koch of the Maxwell Faculty of Citizenship and Public Affairs in Syracuse.[37]

These high-profile, state-sponsored occasions “disseminate narratives concerning the nation’s nationwide id”[38] and permit the federal government to proceed the profitable technique of uniting residents via an enchantment to their widespread Bedouin heritage. The UAE’s nation-building effort is deeper and extra structured than a generic public relations marketing campaign. By implementing reforms and inaugurating cultural initiatives, the management is attempting to realize a long-term transformation that encompasses the behavioral, cultural, and private dimensions of its residents’ day by day life.

“One, No One and One Hundred Thousand”: Other ways of “being Emirati”

Regardless of the appreciable assets dedicated to fostering a way of nationwide cohesion, this effort has in the end fallen quick in consolidating the state’s monopoly over what “being Emirati” means. “What’s essential to recollect is that the UAE is a really younger nation,”[39] explains Idil Akinci, early profession educating and analysis fellow on the College of Edinburgh. “Its boundaries, its conception, like different nationwide communities, is continually adapting and altering in relation to socio-economic and political circumstances, and demographics.” Actually, the concept of cultural homogeneity, formed in response to the Bedouin custom, is just not consultant of the native variety inherent within the Emirati social cloth. Other ways of expressing and displaying Emirati id have emerged on the grassroots degree via casual and spontaneous initiatives.

Narrowing Emirati nationwide id all the way down to its Bedouin part neglects a big a part of the nation’s cultural heritage within the title of nationwide cohesion. Whereas the Bedouin heritage is definitely a helpful part, the Analysis Konnection’s survey confirms that respondents don’t take into account the Bedouin previous as the first marker of nationwide id. When requested to prioritize the important thing components that outline “Actually Being Emirati,” respondents rated different id markers corresponding to being a Muslim (97%), talking Arabic (96%), respecting UAE establishments/legal guidelines (91%), and the sensation of being Emirati (86%) larger than having Emirati ancestry (82%).[40]

The UAE’s geographical location, which connects the Arabian, Persian, and Indian worlds, has traditionally been a crossroad for various cultures, populations, and traditions. Despite the fact that influences from Ajami, Baloch, East African, and Indian cultures will be recognized within the present Emirati heritage, they aren’t acknowledged as an integral a part of the nation’s previous and are labelled as “inauthentic.”[41] Nevertheless, “there are advanced, a number of in addition to contradicting methods of belonging which might be past citizenship, in addition to non-belonging that may happen regardless of holding citizenship,”[42] Idil Akinci asserts. This purposeful marginalization represents a delicate challenge, particularly for the offspring of blended marriages in addition to second- and third-generation migrant households, who regardless of being born and raised within the UAE, do not need both Emirati citizenship or a way of belonging to their household’s nation of origin.[43] “But, whatever the time of their, and their ancestors’, arrival, they’re nonetheless known as non permanent migrants,”[44] maintains Idil Akinci. “They represent an essential, but usually uncared for, a part of the nationwide neighborhood and really a lot take into account the UAE their residence, if not their solely residence. They inevitably have affected, and been affected by, dominant conceptions of Emirati nationwide id and belonging.”

The seek for id additionally represents an ongoing quest for some younger Emiratis who battle to acknowledge an idealized Bedouin previous of which they don’t have any direct reminiscence or private affinity. This third technology of Emiratis, which has grown up in a cosmopolitan nation, studied at Western-style universities, and been immersed within the digital world, is in search of an id that reconciles their private experiences with greater than “simplified and romanticized Orientalist depictions of a desert life.”[45] With greater than 32,000 new child nationals becoming a member of the Emirati inhabitants yearly since 2010,[46] the UAE’s demographics are regularly shifting to a youthful inhabitants, making this quest for id extra pressing.

Within the meantime, bottom-up makes an attempt at renegotiating what “Emirati-ness” means are blossoming in casual settings, particularly purchasing malls. In these “glitzy areas”[47] of globalization, Emiratis can set up social relations and expertise life whereas defining and performing new expressions of authenticity.[48] Malls may seem to be “superficial, ostentatious, consumerist and ‘inauthentic’ locations with no ‘soul’ proffered in abundance,”[49] however they’ve additionally grow to be a spot the place younger locals really feel protected to query points of their nationwide id and uncover options.[50] The affect of those business complexes shouldn’t be minimized however quite deconstructed with a purpose to higher grasp the deep social features they’ve in permitting identities to be outlined, consumed, and renegotiated. Once we take into account id exterior the “Orientalist stereotypes”[51] presently used within the official state narrative, what emerges is a rustic in transition the place there isn’t any homogeneous Emirati nationwide id however a wide range of manifestations of belonging. Finally, “what makes the UAE particular and a vibrant neighborhood is that this variety,”[52] concludes Idil Akinci.

The significance of pomp: Nation-building via spectacle

Recognizing the inherent variety inside the UAE social cloth, nevertheless, doesn’t imply neglecting the position of real expressions of affection for the nation. Certainly, official nationwide holidays corresponding to Flag Day, Commemoration Day, and Nationwide Day are events when Emirati residents collectively convey their sense of belonging via public celebrations and occasions. Manifestations of nationwide pleasure have grow to be more and more standard among the many Arab Gulf monarchies because the mounting urgency to maneuver away from oil revenues has raised the stakes of competitors within the area.[53] With Gulf Cooperation Council international locations adopting comparable diversification methods in areas corresponding to luxurious actual property, mass leisure occasions, synthetic intelligence, and excessive tech, the necessity to stand out from one different turns into an crucial.[54]

Strengthening nationwide id via cutting-edge mega-plans has been dubbed the “project-ization of identities,”[55] a method that’s meant to treatment the “lack of shared historic mythology and reminiscence”[56] afflicting the Arab Gulf monarchies. The spectacular celebrations of flagship state initiatives, corresponding to Expo 2020, energy “a second-generation heritage narrative”[57] that speaks to Emirati youth.

The mannequin has nice exterior enchantment, particularly within the Center East and North Africa area, although it is very important word that “the success of soppy energy overseas is a perform of native help.”[58] Based on the 2021 Arab Youth Survey, the UAE completed for the tenth yr in a row forward of the USA, Canada, France, and Germany because the nation the place the vast majority of Arab youth want to dwell.[59] In the interim, the Emirati growth technique continues to pay dividends by profitable the hearts and minds of individuals trying on the nation as a spot the place they can take pleasure in a satisfying way of life.

Whether or not the UAE can strike a stability between indigenous requires different id narratives and the federal government’s quest for a monopoly over the definition of nationhood remains to be to be seen. In previous many years, the Emirati management efficiently promoted, domestically and externally, the picture of a rustic extra in tune with worldwide norms and the calls for of a globalized society. Nevertheless, the long-term viability of this state-led challenge in the end comes down as to if Emirati residents are keen to embrace such a imaginative and prescient and whether or not the UAE management is keen to simply accept the choice visions of the nation’s youthful residents.

Dr. Kristian Alexander is a Senior Fellow at TRENDS Analysis & Advisory in Abu Dhabi, the place he’s the Director of the Worldwide Safety & Terrorism Program. He’s additionally an adviser at Gulf State Analytics (GSA), a Washington-based geopolitical danger consultancy.

Leonardo Jacopo Maria Mazzucco is visiting researcher at Tendencies Analysis & Advisory (Abu Dhabi) and a Analysis Assistant at GSA. He has an MA diploma in Comparative and Worldwide Relations from Ca’ Foscari College of Venice and is finishing a second MA diploma in Center Japanese Research from the Graduate Faculty of Economics and Worldwide Relations (ASERI) from the Catholic College of the Sacred Coronary heart in Milan, Italy. The views expressed on this piece are their very own.