8
9
INTRODUCTION
The desert on the other side was, most of the time, flat, hard and desolate; nothing and no one came from its depth except rarely . . . The bedouin who had at first refused to go near the sea or take part in unloading cargoes from the small boats were soon won over. It seemed to them curious, arousing and somewhat risky, and before long they went closer to the sea. They did so hesitantly, in stages, with a sense of experimentation and secrecy . . . but their fear never left them, for ‘water is treacherous, a swallower who never is satisfied’ . . . Later on they waded into the shallow water. It was enticing, caressing their feet with its coolness and density, and with the passing of time they did not hesitate to bathe in the sea . . . - Abdelrahman Munīf, Cities of Salt 6
The urban narrative of the bedouin has always been one of loss, where through colonisation, exploitation and the introduction of the modern city they have been removed from their landscape.7 As a result, the term bedouin has evolved from denoting way of life into an identity.8 Statistically, over the last century, the bedouin population of Arabia has indeed decreased as a result of their settlement into the modern city. Seen as a solution to the problem of the bedouin standing in the way of nationhood, this “settlement” was materialised in a variety of state-subsidised housing schemes. Where housing was seen as an infrastructure of socialisation and detribalisation by the state,9 integrating the bedouin fully with the rest of the nation in a stable and permanent manner to achieve nationhood and development.10 However, the Bedouin have not been erased and replaced by the city. Their flexible way of life and identity has through their process of adaptation; shaped, defined and transformed the cities of the Arabian Gulf. Thus, the urban narrative of the bedouin is not a story of loss but is a story of adaptation, hybridisation and transformation.
Opposite Page: 2. Henrik August Ankarcrona, Bedouins in the Desert, 1831 - 1917, https://www. averydash.com/products/ henri-ankarcrona-1831-1917bedouins-in-the-desert. Accessed December 10, 2021.
Tamara Husam Rasoul
Explored through the development of the United Arab Emirates and the role of social housing in the consolidation of a distinctly modern Arabia through the domestication of the bedouin and following the transformations of the nomad to the settled, the desert to the sown and the tent to the villa;11 how has this process of sedentarisation and adaptation created a new national identity and form of living which defines the urban fabric of the Arabian Gulf today? Structured into three main sections; Harvested, Transplanted and Adapted, the
Harvested, Adapted, Transplanted
6. Munīf, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān. Cities of Salt. United Kingdom: Cape, 1988. 7. Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An Urban Kaleidoscope. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, (2004). 8. Cole, Donald P. “Where Have the Bedouin Gone?”. Anthropological Quarterly 76, no. 2 (2003): 235–67. http://www. jstor.org/stable/3318400. 9. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”. 10. Tannous, “The Arab Tribal Community in a Nationalist State”, 5-17. 11. Printz, “Al Badawa, Al Bayt, Al Watan”.
