Autumn 2016 A Publication based at St Antony’s College Identity & Culture in the 21st Century Gulf Featuring H.E. Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali Minister of Culture and Sports State of Qatar H.E. Shaikha Mai Al-Khalifa President Bahrain Authority for Culture & Antiquities Ali Al-Youha Secretary General Kuwait National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters Nada Al Hassan Chief of Arab States Unit UNESCO Foreword by Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain OxGAPS | Oxford Gulf & Arabian Peninsula Studies Forum OxGAPS is a University of Oxford platform based at St Antony’s College promoting interdisciplinary research and dialogue on the pressing issues facing the region. Senior Member: Dr. Eugene Rogan Committee: Chairman & Managing Editor: Suliman Al-Atiqi Vice Chairman & Partnerships: Adel Hamaizia Editor: Jamie Etheridge Chief Copy Editor: Jack Hoover Arabic Content Lead: Lolwah Al-Khater Head of Outreach: Mohammed Al-Dubayan Communications Manager: Aisha Fakhroo Broadcasting & Archiving Officer: Oliver Ramsay Gray Research Assistant: Matthew Greene Copyright © 2016 OxGAPS Forum All rights reserved Autumn 2016 Gulf Affairs is an independent, non-partisan journal organized by OxGAPS, with the aim of bridging the voices of scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers to further knowledge and dialogue on pressing issues, challenges and opportunities facing the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessar- ily represent those of OxGAPS, St Antony’s College, or the University of Oxford. Contact Details: OxGAPS Forum 62 Woodstock Road Oxford, OX2 6JF, UK Fax: +44 (0)1865 595770 Email: [email protected] Web: www.oxgaps.org Design and Layout by B’s Graphic Communication. Email: [email protected] Cover: A visitor looks at photographs from Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s, the Crown Prince of Dubai, personal collection at the Dubai Photo Ex- hibition on 19 March 2016. Photo Credits: Cover - Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images; 2 - Pool/Bandar Algaloud/ Anadolu Agency/Getty Images; 6 - Xinhua/Alamy Stock Photo; 10 - Rabih Moghrabi/ AFP/Getty Images; 13 - Nelson Garrido; 17 - Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images; 22 - Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images; 38 - REUTERS/Alamy Stock Photo; 42 - BACA; 45 - NCCAL; 49 - UNESCO. The Issue ‘Identity & Culture in the 21st Century Gulf’ was supported by: Table of Contents Foreword iv Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain iv I. Overview vi Identity and Culture in the 21st Century Gulf vi Magdalena Karolak, Theme Editor II. Analysis 1 Khaleeji Identity in Contemporary Gulf Politics 2 by Gaith Abdulla “Emiratization of Identity”: Conscription as a Cultural Tool of Nation-building 6 by Eleonora Ardemagni Saruq Al-Hadid to Jebel Ali: Dubai’s Evolving Trading Culture 10 by Robert Mogielnicki IconiCity: Seeking Identity by Building Iconic Architectures in Kuwait 13 by Roberto Fabbri The Banality of Protest? Twitter Campaigns in Qatar 17 by Andrew Leber and Charlotte Lysa Monolithic Representations and Orientalist Credence in the UAE 22 by Rana AlMutawa III. Commentary 27 Challenges of Cultural Identity in the GCC 28 by Ahmad Al-Dubayan The Gulf States’ National Museums 30 by Sultan Al Qassemi The Local Evolution of Saudi Arabia’s Contemporary Art Scene 32 by Alia Al-Senussi Understanding the Evolution of the Khaleeji Identity 34 by Lulwa Abdulla Al-Misned ii Gulf Affairs Table of Contents IV. Interviews 37 H.E. Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali 38 Minister of Culture and Sports State of Qatar H.E. Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa 42 President, Bahrain Authority for Culture & Antiquities Kingdom of Bahrain Ali Al-Youha 45 Secretary General Kuwait National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters Nada Al Hassan 49 Chief of Arab States Unit UNESCO V. Featured Photo Essay and Timeline 54 Featured Photo Essay: Walls of the GCC 54 by Rana Jarbou Timeline 56 Identity & Culture in the 21st Century Gulf |Autumn 2016 iii Foreword Foreword by Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain In the 1960s, the Gulf states experienced a cultural renais- sance and the start of intellectual modernization. Khaleeji so- ciety has evolved over the ensuing 50 years due to four key reasons. First is the progressive vision of civil society. This in- cludes cultural foundations, institutions, clubs, and non-profit organizations as well as poets, sheikhs, thinkers, artists, and writers from the region. They all believe in culture and its val- ue in evolving society’s virtues, principles, and wisdom. The second is communication. Across the region, daily editorials, columns, analyses, interviews, TV programs, radio programs and more recently, social media have all focused on cultural activities, and the cultural dimension of these societies has be- come a facet of daily life. It orients common opinion and adds understanding and value to our view of life. A third factor that has promoted cultural production and ex- change across the GCC region is the development of printing and translation and the explosion of information available to a large segment of the population. Finally, governments of the Gulf states all play an important, central role in promoting local cultural production. Through the allocation of funds and encouragement of local societ- ies, competitions, awards, and other efforts, public institutions have supported a well-entrenched tradition of indigenously-produced arts and culture. Today, the Arabic culture is much more universal than before because it has been disseminated internationally through cultural and civilizational centers for dialogue established in the big historical cities. My own efforts should be understood within the framework of civil society and corporate social responsi- bility. In 1989, I established the Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Foundation, which now functions through six bodies: the Prize of Poetic Creativity, the Centre of Intercultural Dialogue, the Institute of Peace, the Centre of Communication, the Centre of Social Development, and the Directorate of Libraries. We organize and co-organize a number of cultural events with international institutions and finance oth- ers, forming a bridge between the Arab world and countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Recently, we were honored by re-endowing the Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Laudian Chair in Arabic at the University of Ox- ford, which is one of seven other chairs ensuring the same mission in different universities in Chad, China, Comoros Islands, France, Italy, Spain, and Togo. After 25 years, the foundation is known all over the world, and we have organized 15 conferences and ses- sions in Arabic poetry and intercultural dialogue. We work closely with governmental institutions, interna- tional bodies, and NGOs, as the goals of the foundation resonate deeply with their missions. For example, in 2006, during the Foundation’s 10th session held in Paris, France, under the auspices of His Excellency iv Gulf Affairs Foreword the former French President Jacques Chirac and in coordination with UNESCO, we organized a seminar which was described by the former Director-General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura as an “excellent op- portunity to reflect on the notion of intercultural dialogue, as well as on the role of the poet in encouraging mutual understanding and respect among cultures.” We are, Matsuura added, “encouraging creativity, and enabling it to flourish in a spirit of diversity and freedom. This is one of the best ways of promoting cultural vitality and sustaining human development.” Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain is a prominent Kuwaiti businessman and founder of the Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Foundation. He is also a renowned poet and his first book Bauh Al-Bawadi (Intimations of the Desert) was pub- lished in 1995. Al-Babtain holds 14 honorary doctorates, has received numerous awards, honors, and medals including the Kuwait Order of the Sash from the Amir of Kuwait, Order of Civil Merit from the King of Spain and National Order of the Cedar from the President of Lebanon. Identity & Culture in the 21st Century Gulf |Autumn 2016 v I. Overview Identity and Culture in the 21st Century Gulf Overview by Magdalena Karolak, Theme Editor The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries entered the 21st century with greater maturity. Across the region, these states consolidated the many political, economic, and social projects that had been in progress since independence and state formation in the 20th century. New challenges abound, however, as Gulf millennials enter a rapidly changing world facing regional con- flicts and socioeconomic pressures. One of the core questions likely to shape the coming decades in the Gulf is the issue of identity. States must continue to forge strong national identities, while the creation of the GCC has paved the way for the growth of a pan-khaleeji identity. Formation of national identities in the Gulf has not been an easy project, as exemplified elsewhere in the Middle East. Religious, ethnic, tribal, and settlement cleavages that cut through the population are factors that make identification and loyalty with non-state structures more salient. The structures of power often determine these specific patterns of identification. Yet, it is also clear that identities, once crystallized, in turn impact the social structure. The creation of strong national identities requires anchoring the nation’s history in founding myths shared by all citizens. Indeed, a community exists thanks to a shared perception of the past, present, and future events that transcends individuals, linking their lives to those