POLICY PAPER Policy Paper No. 17 July 2016 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Emirati Identity and Social The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a Interaction in the Emirate of rapidly developing country. According to a common assumption in media and Ras Al Khaimah scholarship, however, this development has come with a price: The UAE’s Martin Ledstrup expanding expatriate population has led Emiratis to become more diligent about Methodology asserting their national identity. Many suggest that, in celebrating their national The following observations were carried out over approximately eight months culture and local heritage, Emiratis of research in the UAE from 2012 to 2014. The empirical substance comes have effectively isolated themselves from participant observation of and semi-structured interviews concerning from expatriates—both physically and interactions between young Emirati citizens and non-Emirati residents on symbolically. the UAE’s National Day celebrations and on the multicultural campus of the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK). In what follows, this paper approaches these issues through an ethnographic lens This research focuses on young Emiratis because they are, in many ways, the and identifies the above understanding target audience of national identity discussions in the UAE. It is the Emirati of Emirati national identity as a form of youth in particular who are often perceived as being in danger of losing their stereotype. It argues that the stereotype of national identity to the pressures of globalization, yet there has been little Emiratis who culturally isolate themselves research done from an ethnographic point of view on how young Emiratis is challenged by the behavior of Emiratis demonstrate their different perspectives on Emirati identity (The Emirates in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 2009). Research also focused on Observers who contend that Emiratis do AURAK because, as a multinational university campus, it is a site of cross- not typically interact with expatriates cultural interaction—a learning and working environment that facilitates may be, at best, basing their view on daily encounters among young Emiratis and non-nationals. The research experiences rooted in emirates such as focused on men, however, for pragmatic reasons. As the researcher is a Danish Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but this perspective male, participant observation and semi-structured interviews about national cannot account for Emiratis as a whole. identity among Arab Muslim women would have been difficult to achieve In contrast to stereotypes about Emirati without potential cultural insensitivity on the part of the researcher. identity and the social isolation that it produces, it appears possible for Emiratis The methodological approach of this paper, then, is ethnographic. This means in Ras Al Khaimah to maintain a sense of that the researcher (henceforth referred to as “I” or “me”) will follow the general national identity while interacting with practice of ethnographic research by writing in first person (Hastrup, 1992). expatriates. The important point to grasp, Therefore, the data and observations that follow have been seen and heard by me. from this discussion, is that Emiratis In policy discussions, ethnographic approaches raise potential difficulties value their identity in many different because an ethnographic study of national identity is by nature a qualitative and often individualized ways, making rather than quantitative endeavor (Hastrup, 1992; Fox & Miller-Idriss, generaliations about their national 2008). Therefore, when considering the policy implications of this study, the identity dubious. following observations should not be taken as a representative study about Emirati national identity based on interactions between “Emiratis” and “non- Emiratis.” Nevertheless, ethnography can show some of the complex individual negotiations that are involved in national identity, but that are difficult to capture in larger surveys. What follows is an argument for supplementing the use of general labels such as “Emirati” and “non-Emirati” with insight into how these labels function in individual life stories and in regional settings. Image 1 country. It is not surprising, then, that the connection made between Emirati identity and cultural threat perception is a part of scholarship on the UAE. As Fred H. Lawson and Hasan M. Al Naboodah write: The oil boom has attracted large numbers of expatriate laborers who brought with them the icons and mores of their respective homelands. By the early 1990s, popular culture in the UAE consisted almost entirely of idioms, symbols, and practices that originated outside the country. Faced with these trends, a number of influential actors took steps to encourage greater public awareness and appreciation of older forms of cultural expression. (Lawson, et al., 2008, pp. 15-16) Indeed, Oliver Picton asserts that “globalization and modernity have threatened what some nationals imagine to be ‘authentic’ Emirati culture and heritage” to an extent that “these fears have been translated into the politicized government policy of heritage revival” (Picton, 2010, p. 69). For instance, the “invention of camel culture,” writes Sulayman Khalaf, “provides links to the historical past of the Emirates’ pastoral way of life that has been swept away by oil-triggered modernization.” (Khalaf, 2000, p. 244). The story about Emiratis’ cultural threat perceptions, Emirati Identity and Self- self-segregation, and national identity has recently segregation been explored by Miriam Cooke in Tribal Modern: Branding New Nations in the Arab Gulf, a book- In recent decades, Emiratis have expressed the importance length study about national identity, tribal heritage, of their national identity through heritage endeavors and modernity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) such as camel racing, falconry, poetry, building wind countries. “A chasm,” she writes, “yawns between the towers, date festivals, national celebrations (including native citizens and both sets of others: the educated National Day and Flag day), pearling museums, and cosmopolitans and the laboring underclass” (Cooke, heritage villages (Exell & Rico, 2014; Khalaf, 1999; 2014, p. 24). That is why, according to Cooke, “national Wakefield, 2012). Why is this the case? day celebrations carefully segregate national citizens from migrant workers” (Cooke, 2014, p. 68). That is “You must understand,” an Emirati academic once told why, when it comes to national dress, “Gulf Arabs are me in Dubai, “that our history is a history of gain and increasingly donning a uniform that turns every public pain.” His point was that “traditional” or ”authentic” appearance into a performance of national identity” Emirati identity is important in light of the country’s rapid (Cooke, 2014, p. 124). The perspective on national development and the accompanying immigration of identity that emerges from Cooke’s text, in other expatriates from all over the world. His explanation also words, treats national dress (“uniform”) in the Arab echoes in the media. When local commentator Sultan Gulf as though it has one specific, collective purpose: Al Qassemi proposed introducing formal citizenship namely, the performance of national identity. procedures for educated Arab expatriates, the “Call to Naturalize Some Expats”—as a headline in Reuters read— In certain media and scholarship, then, Emirati identity stirred “anxiety in the UAE” (Habboush, 2013). is associated with the group’s self-segregation within the UAE’s society—through distinguishing dress and What the debate over Sultan Al Qassemi’s proposal behavior—because of the perception that non-Emiratis suggests is that globalization and immigration in threaten national identity. Emirati self-segregation is the UAE are often viewed as threats to Emirati evident in the emirate of Dubai, according to Pernilla culture. Specifically, the debate indicates that many Ouis and Asef Bayat, while Cooke argues that the individuals feel that Emirati cultural distinctives will phenomenon is characteristic of the Arab Gulf as a dissolve as Emiratis become a minority in their own whole (Bayat, 2010; Cooke, 2014; Ouis, 2011). Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy 2 The next section, however, argues that while Cooke’s Image 2 observations may represent Dubai’s context, it is problematic to generalize them to the entire Arab Gulf. Indeed, observations of National Day celebrations in Ras Al Khaimah indicate that assumptions like Cooke’s should not be generalized across the country, let alone the region. National Day in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah National Day in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah presents a different picture of Emirati identity than the one described by Cooke. The public center of National Day is the Corniche Al Qawasim, an oblong stretch of land along the natural creek near Ras Al Khaimah City. With a view of Ras Al Khaimah’s twin skyscrapers, the neighborhoods of Al Nakheel and Al Uraibi, acres of green mangroves, and the Hajjar Mountains, the physical appearance of Corniche Al Qawasim is exceptionally varied (Image 1). Not surprisingly, the Corniche is one of the most popular outdoor spaces in Ras Al Khaimah, where residents take walks, exercise, and relax on benches, on lawns, and in cafés. At the epicenter of Ras Al Khaimah’s National Day celebrations, festivities spilled onto the Corniche’s paved walking paths, manicured lawns,