The Vanished Village
The Vanished Village
Nostalgic and Nationalist Critiques of the New Dubai
This chapter explores the family-state’s construction of modernity as appropriated and reproduced by everyday Emiratis. The narratives and symbolisms created within the scope of modernity as defined by the state are a means by which Emiratis can embrace and endow their conditions with meaning. In particular, the idealized family is explored as an indelible influence on national and naturalized ideologies. The ideal family generally constitutes a patriarchal hierarchy and works as the metaphor for the larger context of putting the interests of the group over the individual. In this way, the family-state is able to maintain an ethnocentric imagining of spatial representation—by drawing clear distinctions between inside and outside, the self and the other. Urbanism thus becomes a narrative of “authentic cultural identity,” as well as the “visionary leadership” of the ruling clan.
Keywords: modernity, ideal family, patriarchal hierarchy, spatial representation, authentic cultural identity, urbanism
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