Why the Emirati culture matters

(Permission granted by author)


The older I get the more I realize that I don’t really know that much about the culture of the United Arab Emirates, and I am a local! Sure I know that culture is more than just the physical means of living in the U.A.E., we learn that in school. But does the culture of the U.A.E. really matter? It would seem to me that what really matters is not me being me but being more like those expatriates who tell us how to be. Maybe I have been giving my own culture the short end of the stick as I have been caught up in the wave of the west is the best.
I used to generalize a lot about the culture of the U.A.E. and think it was primitive and needed to change. I have always argued with people that my culture, the U.A.E.’s culture, is a very close-minded culture and needs to loosen up. But today I am finally beginning to realize that my culture is more than a just Henna, dune bashing and dancing. Culture is more than just the means of living in the U.A.E., it is the very law under which all we Emiratis live, and I had to learn that the hard way. I hope I have not begun to learn about the importance of my culture too late!
When people meet me for the first time they usually assume that since I’m an Emirati national I know and understand the Emirati culture, but to their shock, just because I wear a sheila and abayaa doesn’t mean I am a U.A.E. cultural expert! In fact I am embarrassed to admit that many expatriates know more about the culture of the U.A.E. than I do.


How can this be? Well in short the success of the U.A.E. might also be seen as its failing. (Sir I didn’t get what you talking about here)

You see, even though I am an Emirati I have lived most of my life traveling around the world from one country to another following my father where his career took him. I am embarrassed to say that I have grown up learning about many different cultures but I have failed to learn my own.



There is no question the UAE culture is unique. Unlike many consumer driven cultures ours is also heavily steeped in our religion, and as hard as this is for westerners to understand we are proud of the place of our religion in all we do. In fact our religion merges with our very traditions creating something that is very special.
As you learn more about the U.A.E.`s culture you realize that all the parts that you once believed were negative, or that you are told are negative by the ever powerful media and global flow of ideas especially those that expatriates bring with them to the U.A.E., turn out to be positive in one way or the other.
I have only just begun to realize that it isn’t the culture of the U.A.E. that has the problem but me! It is me, an Emirati, who has been looking at this truly amazing culture from a very narrow-mind point of view.
The Emirati culture as it grows, accommodates and reasserts its fundamental tenants of community, sharing and goodwill that makes this country so exceptional. Many of my fellow countrymen hold onto our culture with great defiance as they fear it will be lost with time. Dubai is slowly drifting toward that very consumer culture that so many expatriates were socialized into in their own homeland.
What is scary me today is that the Emirati people are slowly and systematically being told that our culture and progress don’t match be it from business, to construction, to education we are slowly being stripped of our unique culture to help aid the rapid development of one of our great cities, and what sadness me is that some of the other Emirates are right behind Dubai in adopting this consumer culture.
The aim of Dubai, as I see it anyway, is to be an international city where everyone is welcomed. But wasn’t that the situation 20 years ago? Hasn’t our culture always been to welcome people, ideas and great stories that can help us grow? Today we seem to be growing at the expense of our very lifeblood, our culture.


Many of my expatriate friends have told me that the reason they have come to the U.A.E. was the good pay, safe environment, and the difference in culture. If that’s the reason then shouldn’t all UAE residents Emirati and non-Emirati worry that the UAE culture is slowly changing into something foreign? Sure every culture has its up’s and down’s, as nothing is perfect but we should all stand together and acknowledge the beauty of this culture and not be so quick to sell it out.

The culture of the U.A.E. is the legacy of our ancestors; it is a piece of art of living, thinking and being that should never fade away. Maybe we need Emitari’s to remember to “act locally and think globally” because once we have lost our culture we will never get it back!

Méytha Al Mutawaa.