Emirati Women: Generations of Change

by Jane Bristol-Rhys

The discovery of oil in the late 1960s catapulted the people of Abu Dhabi out of the isolating poverty into which it had plunged in the 1930s and onto the global stage. Massive construction projects built the city and infrastructural developments altered the physical and cultural landscape; in a few breathtaking decades, the lives of Emiratis were transformed by new opportunities and a social welfare system that offered free education, medical treatment, generous pensions, subsidies to families, and government incentives offered to citizens to participate in all sectors of the economy. Oil wealth also brought new expectations and new life-styles that are often sophisticated and lavish yet just as often criticized for being conspicuous displays of unbridled consumerism.

Emirati Women offers a rare view into the lives of Emirati women and how they perceive the changes that have made poverty a dim and almost forgotten memory. In Emirati Women, Bristol-Rhys weaves together eight years of conversations and interviews with three generations of women, her observations of Emirati society in Abu Dhabi, the unflattering stereotypes commonly heard in the extensive expatriate communities, and discussions with her Emirati university students on topics ranging from marriage, independence, freedom, and the future.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[reem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emirati Women: Generations of Change is well-researched and thoroughly knowledgeable in areas I normally wouldn't be thinking about in the year 2016. I don't know much about the history of the UAE except what they taught us in school and some of the things I would hear from my parents. Perhaps due to the repetition, one tends to lose interest and forget the importance of such turning points that are so crucial to who we are as Emirati people. Dr. Jane says it well in page 51:

"Forty years later Abu Dhabi is one of the wealthiest cities in the world; the memory of poverty has been largely erased and is rarely discussed by the younger generation of Emiratis."

I have never had a full conversation with any of my grandparents about life during the depression (a topic I'm currently attempting to research) because I wouldn't ask and they in turn wouldn't offer to tell stories.

However, even though Dr. Jane Bristol-Rhys evidently tried to set the tone of "not all Emiratis are rich" in her book, I found the section about weddings/shopping to be severely lacking of that notion. So just to underline this to everyone who doesn't know much about the UAE or UAE women: not all Emiratis are rich, not all Emiratis can afford a lavish wedding (even though it is expensive to get married in the UAE, I'm not disagreeing), not all Emiratis eat camel at weddings, not all Emiratis care about shopping, not all Emiratis buy $10,000 Fendi bags (or find that reasonable), not all Emiratis spend their time either on the phone or looking for something to buy. I wish Dr. Jane had talked to the many many educated and middle class women of the so-called lazy generation (women now in their 40s and 50s) and gotten a wider scope on that specific topic, instead of limiting her research on the wealthy families in Abu Dhabi.

I think it's worth to mention that there were parts of the book that I just couldn't understand (or that seemed very untrue to me) and had to put it down for a minute to clear my head.

There's a part in the section titled 'Being Emirati isn't easy!' that suggests that a lot of Dr. Jane's university students were not very aware of their past. However, I know from personal experience that history is widely taught in ALL schools in the UAE (pre-Islam, pre-oil, etc.) Perhaps not in the depth that is warranted from a research paper but enough to give us an idea of what life was back then. Any student who makes it to university level with any less of these facts, is a mere reflection of his/her own chosen-ignorance and not of the country's will to forgo the past and focus on the future.

The funny part is that I found this book accidentally in a bookstore in London, near closing time, not thinking it was going to be more than an eyebrow-raising/entertaining read. That it was, but it tells a lot more. Overall, it made for an interesting read. I enjoyed parts of the book, some made my head ache, some made me laugh, some made me nod in agreement, some parts aggravated me! but it was an interesting perspective to look at nonetheless.

This book also made me think a lot about the past and the future and how we can clasp to one version of history that we've been taught without digging deep into the raw human form of our ancestors and try our best to understand their lives because it will always be invariably ours to carry forever. And I think it's reckless to not think about it in 2016.

[Khadui · Rating 1 out of 5]

50% of the book: All Emiratis are rich, spend their money on luxury goods, and everyone else is mad about it???

40% romanticization of the past

10% references of fareej

??? um :/

[Deedlina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emirati Women - Generations of Change by Jane Bristol-Rhys is an 8-year ethnography in the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. She mentions at the beginning the trouble she had to go through to find authentic information about UAE’s history and its natives. Most of the books she found were written by travelers such as Wilfred Thesiger and other orientalists. Her interlocutors are her students and Emirati women she met through her students.

The author mentions how her interlocutors - all women - from the upper class yearned for their past and felt constrained in their luxury villa. These women feel they have lost their sense of belonging due to the number of foreigners the country welcomed after the discovery of oil.

The author does a good job highlighting the tension between the past and the present generation, the struggle people went through to put food on the table, and the freedom women had in the past compared to the restriction she’s facing now in many households. Doing an ethnography in the Emirates is difficult and accessing Emirati households and their private space is nearly impossible for a newly arrived American over a decade ago. I do appreciate this book and what it intends to do.

The author stresses that not all Emiratis are wealthy and not all of them are lazy every now and then, I wished she had emphasized it more. Since this book is targeted at non-Emiratis, the impression readers will get is that all Emiratis are filthy rich, all Emiratis have villas in London, Paris, and Switzerland because more chapters were dedicated to discussing in details the lavish wedding the author attended, native’s obsession with shopping and spending money without batting their eyes. Though there is some truth in this, not all are spendthrift, and not all UAE national’s have homes in Europe (I don’t, and none of my friends have)

I wished Dr. Jane dedicated more pages to discuss other socially disadvantaged people in the UAE, not only the wealthy ones.

[Mariyah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book. I think it was well documented and that`s not a simple thing because Emirati women tend to be very private persons. The author focuses more on the women from Abu Dhabi describing 3 generations: the grandmothers who raised their kids in poverty, then the middle aged women who were children in `60 s and the nowadays university students who were raised in wealth.
My favorite chapter is :"Days of the past " because it promotes the idea that oil was a reward for the patient and pious people who did not have anything but family and Allah and they did not need car stickers to remember Allah like today. The chapter presents the radiography of a society completely different to what we are used today. It shocked me that in `the 50 s many people did not have toilets in the house, they were using the (beach), the place that it`s know today as Cornich.
Oil wealth definitely changed the position and the image of the country in the world and it also brought many advantages to the people but also some negative aspects in the life of the women who seem that they have lost freedom and other rights which before were granted. I think that this is the most interesting aspect of the book and it is something I don`t fully agree with.

[Siobhan Fallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insight into UAE culture beneath the glossy veneer of super malls or the idealized and romantic Thesinger photos from the desert.