History must be shared

It remains a profound irony that one can walk into the British National Archives in Kew Gardens, London, and learn more about Emirati history than if one were to attempt to do so in the UAE itself. This year might be the UAE's National Heritage Year, but learning about Emirati heritage poses a formidable challenge.

In and of itself this wouldn't be a problem - but there are thousands of people studying various aspects of the UAE at the moment who need this context to be able to do their work. How do they manage without it?

How do the analysts, management consultants, academics and creative producers farm out ideas on issues from clustering and free zones, education and health care to judicial challenges without learning about where these ideas may have come from and what impact they may have on the collective memory here?

Stored in archives at the Centre for Documentation and Research, a huge national treasure lies neglected by these groups. The tragedy is that it's virtually inaccessible.

Research must be conducted through intermediaries - the staff who work there - as it's impossible to browse through the archives first hand. It's understandable that secret documents pertinent to the national interest must be kept exactly that - secret.

But the authorities must expose people to their own history - particularly if the information is already easily available in the UK or India. If this doesn't happen, it will continue to mean that Britain and India - two historical centres of domination over Emirati affairs - will continue to possess a strategic and critical advantage over the UAE.

A visit to Essex or Durham's research centres can be more edifying than a visit to a university library in the UAE.

What is entirely perplexing is that the detailed correspondences between the political representatives of Britain and the Shaikhs of the UAE, intelligence assessments, economic development notes, architectural planning ideas, heritage summaries and educational development planning - all in the writing of the key stakeholders themselves - are readily available in either the State of Maharashtra's Bombay Office, from where the UAE was once governed as a protectorate by the British, or the British National Archives (formerly the Public Records Office in the UK) but kept under literal lock and key here.

So while the British can learn about Emirati history, Emiratis themselves have no such luck. There are also vast archives of Persian, American and Portuguese origin.

There remain glimmers of hope. Although it doesn't get the credit it deserves, the Juma Al Majid Centre tucked away in Muraqabbat, Dubai, hosts 200,000 documents and rare maps and makes a small portion of the British Public Office's records available.

The centre also has a branch dedicated to manuscript restoration and preservation with purpose-built climate-controlled warehouses. Walk in and the staff do whatever they can to assist you.

In them it's possible to read astonishing tidbits about UAE history - the origins of tribes, political affiliations and revealing incidents in the past that go a long way in explaining where we are today.

How do Emiratis learn about their own history - or what was once said about them by others? What many are missing out on are the most valuable lessons UAE history has to offer. How did Dubai manage to overcome tribalism, retain its openness and adopt pro-business attitudes? Are all these ingredients mere chance or were they learnt in the crucible of post-colonial discovery? Does Harvard readily dismiss Dubai as a port city simply because it's never studied its history?

GCC developmental records chart the progression and hindrance of the infrastructural development of the UAE (traffic between Sharjah and Dubai was identified as a critical barrier in the 1960s when camels were used). Subjects such as the weather are also recorded (yes, there was fog in the 1920s too; it's not just a result of all the construction).

The 'problem' of pan-Arab Egyptian and Sudanese educators in 1960s Dubai is also laid bare (at the opening of one school for nationals in Dubai, the British overlord expressed his outrage at the headmaster's Arabism). All of this rarely sees the light of day, as it remains hidden in the reference only sections in libraries.

It's critical for Emiratis and interested stakeholders alike to learn more about the history of the UAE. The UAE must open up these archives in a commitment not only to academic discovery, but to enable and facilitate knowledge transfer. And this also points to the wider problems of no inter-library access between universities, public libraries and research centres - something that is all the more astonishing when you consider that places such as MIT have open-source policies for even the contents of their lectures.

Anyone with a stake in the UAE's development must take note. Those who seek direction and purpose in their work need only look at the historical records to obtain a sense of urgency and appreciation of their prevailing context.

Habiba Hamid is director of Saracen Consulting.