How the UAE's essence is forever linked to the sea

Dubai: The Arabian Gulf has shaped the UAE’s past and what it is today. From pearl diving to modern-day trading, fishing, tourism, leisure activities and ecological conservation, the sea speaks of the country’s hardship and hope; and the connection between the east and west.

The Arabian Gulf is much more than a body of water.

According to Professor Dr Saddik M. Gohar, noted academician, critic and researcher in the fields of humanities and social sciences: “In Emirati culture and literature, the sea is often associated with romance, nostalgia and local rituals entrenched not only in the popular culture of the sea and fishing communities across the coasts but also throughout the UAE territories.”

Study of history, archaeology and heritage of UAE

Gohar, who is also a translation expert at the National Archives (under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs -Abu Dhabi), recently published a comprehensive essay titled ‘The Sea: An Integral Part of Emirati Culture, Heritage and Literature’ in ‘Liwa’, a refereed academic journal dedicated to the study of the history, archaeology and heritage of the UAE and the Arabian Gulf Region.

He said: “Historically, the sea — in the Emirati collective consciousness — is associated with the glorious past of the ancestors. But, since the early 1970s, and particularly after the establishment of the UAE, the Emirati society has been gearing toward an era of modernisation due to the radical developments and transformations taking place in the aftermath of the discovery of oil in the region.”

Accelerated urbanisation

The new economic and technological developments accelerated the process of urbanisation in the UAE, paving the way for the rapid shift from a traditional way of existence.

“This process of enormous transition attracted the attention of a generation of young Emirati writers interested in the new strategic status acquired by their country and its significant place on the world map of economics, politics and tourism,” Gohar noted.

“Caught in the cultural intricacies and socio-economic ramifications of a new era, Emirati writers seek to capture the spirit of the wide-scale developments taking place on different paradigms in their country ... These Emirati writers not only reveal a sense of nostalgia toward a bygone era conflating the sea motif with innocence and purity, but also provide the sea with new philosophical and intellectual dimensions,” he added.

Prominent Emirati writers used the sea analogy as a pre-text to navigate local traditions and re-construct national identity, engaging the impact of economic development and urbanisation on the social and demographic structures of their society. Caught up in the cultural limbo between native and foreign traditions, Emirati writers have been depicting the “radical ramifications triggered by the process of rapid transition, which transformed the UAE from a pearl-diving community into a modernised and urbanised country”.

The sea motif

Gohar said as the UAE found itself in a new phase of economic, social and cultural changes — on literary ground. “Emirati short story writers were able to digest the experiences of neighboring Arab countries in the eighties and consequently the genre began to bloom in the UAE during the 1990s, especially in terms of form.”

He added: “The Emirati historical fiction remained linked to the sea motif as a central topic. The sea in UAE history and culture has been the life-giving vein and the centre of economic activities as well as the source of pearls and fish trade for centuries. The sea has also participated in interweaving the fabric of tribal relations and social entanglements in the traditional UAE society.”

“The sea is at the forefront of the Emirati fictional space to the extent that some critics consider it as the centre of most of the contemporary historical fiction in UAE literature,” Gohar noted.

“The sea has not only been a major influence in social, commercial and social life in the UAE, but has constituted a direct impact on educational and cultural life.. The sea is usually employed as a tributary feeding the narrative elements that combine together to serve a specific vision in UAE fictional works.”

Sense of nostalgia

Gohar said Emirati short story writers explored the sea from different approaches and perspectives.

He said: ‘Emirati writers have been concerned with the reconstruction of national identity and indigenous traditions in their literary works by promoting sea narratives and disseminating a sense of nostalgia simultaneously associated with a bygone era and a glorious past.”

Emirati writers use the sea motif to portray national identity, tradition and cultural heritage – linking the past with the present and keeping the heritage of the ancestors alive in the collective memory of the coming generations.