Competing Epistemologies: Modernizing and Traditionalizing Trends in the Arabian Gulf
Panel 191, 2016 Annual Meeting
On Saturday, November 19 at 2:00 pm
Panel Description
Today, the small, oil rich GCC states of the Arabian Gulf are experiencing a critical crisis in articulating two distinct, yet somewhat antithetical identities: one based on an unmistakable pride founded on what are presumed to be "traditional" practices, and the other crafted from the necessity that comes with trying to quickly build modern nations that are second to none. At the same time, though, all of this is being acted out against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty that threatens the oil-based revenue streams that are expected to fund these developments.
Reflecting this contending mindset in the United Arab Emirates, poised somewhere between preserving and constructing the past while creating a hypermodern present, one member of this panel captured the irony of the moment by remarking that, "Interest in heritage has become a feature of modern civilization." Thus, the past becomes bedrock for the modern, and what is modern combines with the past to produce a new but uncertain hybrid. Remarkably, the rulers of the UAE have been able to embody both competing worldviews: a tweeting vice-president who announces major government shake-ups over social media, and a harmonizing president who remains beloved because he "keeps the tribes together."
However, this delicate balance between customary social institutions and rapid modernization has led some scholars to overestimate the fragility of the Gulf sheikhdoms and underestimate their resilience. Not surprisingly, reports of their demise prove premature. Yet while the Arab Springs never rose above being more than an incidental anecdote to social change in the Gulf, the real revolution may lurk on the horizon, as plummeting oil prices and rising Iranian output are already straining the fiscal cornerstones of the rentier social contract. "There is no question," one scholar recently concluded, "that there is a massive transformation underway."
The purpose of this panel is to explore, expound and analyze this massive transformation by focusing on its manifestation in the Gulf. The contributions feature two papers that concentrate on the reinvigorated heritage projects underway in the Emirates, and two others that bring to light the ways that contemporary institutions and practices are coping with the pressures wrought by fast-pace modernization. It is intended that together, these four papers will provide an accurate and timely assessment of the contradictions that animate the region.
It is a well known adage that social connections are the lubricants for the bureaucratic machineries in place throughout the Middle East. In most Arabic speaking countries, with the exception of some North African locales, the entire process of making a desired administrative result come to fruition with the use of intermediaries is encompassed by a single word: wasta. In fact, in some organizational milieus, wasta is so endemic that it can almost be thought of as the currency of procedural outcomes, as its presence or absence can far outweigh other factors.
From a theoretical standpoint, it is not too difficult to align wasta with Pierre Bourdieu's conceptions about social capital, in that both are a type of tender embedded in networks of relationships. Moreover, wasta, like social capital, can be accumulated, saved, transferred, and exchanged for other kinds of assets, while at the same time holding an indeterminate and undefined value. Still, despite a worth that is largely indefinite and entirely negotiable, wasta is calculable as a reliable measure of social closeness or distance; it is extended to some and withheld from others.
In Kuwait, however, the durability of wasta as a form of interactional capital is being increasingly challenged by more immediate, instantaneous modes of transactions. In other words, wasta is sometimes pushed aside in preference for more market oriented swaps: cash for favors or services rendered. Along these lines, graft, bribery, and vote buying are all unmistakable instances that deviate from the supposed desirability of the social bonds that underwrite wasta affiliations because money, unlike wasta, is easily reckoned and quickly traded.
Yet, wasta and outright payments are significant variants because they are messages that are less about the objects of the trades – be it votes, licenses, or permits – and more about the nature of the social bonds involved in the dealings. The purpose of this paper is to examine the statements that are being made about sociability in Kuwait when wasta and its monetized alternatives are offered or used. This presentation will be primarily based on the author's own ethnographic research conducted in Kuwait, although it will also draw upon comparative data taken from across the region.
One aspect of the challenge of negotiating modernity with sustaining traditions in the United Arab Emirates is manifest in the goal of creating a knowledge society, a globalizing trend which entails attracting and retaining the so-called foreign talents on the one hand, and “Emiratization” or nationalization of the human capital on the other. As an aspect of diversification of economy, investments in education and development of human capital have received high priority in the national development goals. Yet, in the short term attracting foreign talents, or what Richard Florida calls, “the creative class” is an imperative in the creation of a knowledge society, which in theory, is also a meritocratic society. The paper will examine the challenges of balancing the objective of nationalization with the goal of creating a knowledge society in which the role of foreign talent will remain crucial both in the short and medium terms.
The paper begins by tracing the orchestrated evolution of the UAE Federal National Council (FNC) from ‘traditional’ forms of consultation between ruler and ruled to ‘modern’ electoral politics and puts them in the context of alternative ‘post-modern’ forms of political participation through e-government and the social media. The FNC was established in 1972 immediately after independence as one of the five federal authorities of the UAE that formalizes and incorporates the shura principle into the modern nation state but has no legislative powers. Initially its membership was entirely appointed by the rulers of the seven emirates, but in 2006 elections were held for half of the FNC seats by a small electoral college also appointed by the rulers. In subsequent elections in 2011 and 2015 the electoral college was substantially expanded and probably now includes almost half the adult population of the country and it is expected to be widened to universal franchise in future. The paper analyses changing voter participation and voting patterns in the 2006, 2011 and 2015 elections in terms of such factors as gender, age and tribal affiliation.
Various types of architecture reflect the rapid cultural and social change in both the public and private spheres of a particular society. The scholarly literature addressing the relationship between traditional culture and vernacular architecture in the Emirates society is scant. This is an ethnographic inquiry that treats the vernacular dwelling as part of social life, not as a form of material culture or architecture separate from its social reality. By focusing on the progression of the vernacular house, this inquiry discusses cultural factors as well as social values that explain symbolic and architectural design and use of space in the Emirates. The UAE government provided Bedouins and nomadic people with free and low-cost houses as part of the settlement plan initiated in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the buildings were identical in shape, form and size. However, the impact of traditional culture on the newly introduced architecture has been significant. The study proposes that the interaction between the Emirati occupants and the government brought about continuing changes decreasing the sharp conformity of the buildings as well as increasing the inward-looking architectural patterns forming the folk or vernacular house. For instance, the Emirati house contains two sitting rooms (majlis), one for men and another for women stressing social organization patterns of gender segregation. This separation is locally recognized within social and religious contexts. Theoretically, the study examines ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and Henri Lefebvre concerning “habitus” and "representational space”, respectively. People’s cultural orientations are expressed and embodied in daily practices or habitus. They react to cultural frameworks or architectonic structures and develop new ones as a result of their reactions. The inquiry seeks to show how people of the Emirates perceive the ideal built environment as a self-contained and autonomous entity. This ideal is embodied in the vernacular house within which physical space is transformed into a structural social reproduction. Put differently, a vernacular house is viewed as a spatial structure that reflects the traditional culture and network of family relations, daily practices and related social values of the Emiratis.
