Emirati Women: Generations of Change (review)

It is all too easy in writing on a topic such as Emirati women to judge Emirati values by alien standards. Indeed, it takes courage to listen carefully for the nuances in their discussions and let the complexities fall where they will. This is a rare book where an author balances the raw data of women's words with enough details about context and variation to actually help readers arrive at their own insights. This only happens because the author — a professor at Zaid University for women for more than eight years — engaged her students in introspectively examining their lives and visited their homes to meet women of all generations. Also helpful to her was the rapidity of change after the discovery of oil. Memories of the pre-1970s era remain vivid in the minds of many older women. Aerial pictures from the 1960s corroborate the dramatic changes. Settlements of the time consisted of clusters of palm-frond huts surrounding mud forts that were the seats of power. In those days children followed their families in seasonal migrations and sometimes studied in small Qur'anic schools. Now most of the population lives in cities, and virtually every child goes to school. And in extended families women with these dramatically different experiences still live together.

Bristol-Rhys lets the women speak for themselves but reminds us that other groups within Emirati society may see things differently — especially those in different generations and those living in coastal cities compared with the residents of the quieter, more kin-based communities of the interior. It is touching to hear the older women speak nostalgically of having lost a sense of community when they settled in cities among strangers. Even the reality that most lived before in poor, nomadic communities, or were virtual slaves of the pearling business doesn't dampen their memory of a better time when they helped each other out.

Before the formation of the United Arab Emirates as a country in 1971 there was no need to form a sense of national identity. People were known for their tribal backgrounds and the history of their connections with tribal chiefs. Now a national identity has become critical in the face of the more than 80% of the resident population that is foreign and is invading the Emiratis' public and private spaces — as manual laborers, drivers, nannies, household servants, non-Emirati Arab teachers, and office workers. She perceptively describes the boundaries Emiratis erect to maintain their separateness: male dress, for example, that identifies the bond among the nationals of the Arab Gulf, yet with details that distinguish the different states. The older women laugh at the idea that these are "traditional" styles, saying that it takes running water and maids to keep the men's kanduras pressed and sparkling white. Other boundaries include the strong preference for Emirati marriages and gradations of resistance to marriage to non-Emiratis. Another is the use of terms, such as Emiratis calling themselves "locals" with outsiders and "nationals" among themselves. Being a national confers benefits: health care, free schooling, housing and marriage subsidies, and access to social influence. It also limits access to public spaces such as bars that are maintained for tourists.

The author tackles the difficult question of how Emiratis handle a heritage that has changed so dramatically in recent decades, and she notes the contradictions that result. The tag end bits of culture used to symbolize the heritage — falconry, dune-bashing, fake Bedouin tents to attract tourists — have lost their functions in a society that has an over-abundance of gadgets and luxuries and seems bent on competing with the trappings of the rest of the world.

An aspect of tribal life that survives is the matter of reputation. Long a basis of social organization in tribal culture, the competition for reputation — adherence to nomadic virtues: generosity, hospitality, courage, modest appearance, and correct behavior — was virtually the only way a family stood out in the material-poor environment of the desert. This competition...