10 July, 2006
Arabian New York
Arabian NY, magnet, globalization, alchemy, leadership, legend, new metropolis, are some of the metaphors used in this BBC program to describe Dubai. Much of the story told here is nothing new to people who are familiar with the city, but the fairy-tale like discourse and snippets of info and opinion from some interviewees make it worth listening to. It’s part of a new BBC radio series called “The New Arab World,” that started fittingly with Dubai. Listen to the report by clicking on the relevant button on the linked page.
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1 comment:
balushi and intestinal blues, your points are well-taken. Yes, we’re all tired of it! But I just want to emphasize that this is a BBC program and that the portrayal of Dubai is theirs and not mine! However one must note that the program uses the NY metaphor in a positive sense to denote modernity, vision, progress, global presence and openness. You have another idea of New York, so you don't have to agree with the approach because as you say Dubai is Dubai, and that's just fine. However I don’t quite see the point of the set of negative examples about NY. They can neither really prove that New York is such an evil place; nor can they show that Dubai is completely the opposite. Again, this is one way of perceiving Dubai in the popular media; I personally find many misgivings with the report (that's why I called it fairytale-like). Basically, the guy was in Dubai for 4 weeks and this is how he saw Dubai. It’s part of a discourse; we can be critical of it, but to be effective we also need to show fairness.
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