UAE: Fighting fit and flying high
The country has catapulted itself into history as a multicultural habitat, a cultural hub and a player in the global dialogue of cultures
and academic discourse, where creative folks from all over the world mingle, connect and exchange ideas, engendering a communal sense of reference among nations and people.
Consider the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, for example, which will bring together a significant collection of artworks from countries both West and East. Cinema Akel, which has screened indie movies from literally every country around the globe where independent cinematic art is produced. The Women’s Museum, which has explored the role of women in politics, academia and business. Tasjkeel, which has facilitated cross-cultural and artistic exchanges. The Artspace Gallery, which welcomes patrons that include art collectors, architects and designers. And the Dubai Theater and Arts Center, which hosts events for the city’s mutinational community.
And of course Louvre Abu Dhabi, the long-awaited centrepiece of a multi-billion dollar complex, representing the first overseas expansion of Europe’s most revered art institution, which opened recently.
Diffusion of culture
That is not to name the countless concerts held over the years, showcasing musical performances by bands and solo artists from all over the world.
The role that the diffusion of culture plays in the UAE is to essentially bring nations together by showing the people of the world that the more inclusive one’s culture is the more expansive one’s view of the world becomes.
The future goal of the UAE was revealed at the high-level First Cultural Summit in Abu Dhabi last April, a conference that explored the future of culture and how its power could be used, benignly, to effect social change. There, the nation averred that it is sending a message to the world that “[Abu Dhabi] seeks to be a global thought leadership capital through its investment in culture. It is part of a recognition that cultural vitality is directly linked to economic vitality and intellectual vibrancy. It sends a message that the country seeks to be seen as cosmopolitan and that it strives to prepare its residents to operate on the global sage”.
Reminds one of the ‘assabiyeh’, what Ibn Khaldoon called cultural elan, of the Founding Fathers of the Islamic Commonwealth of Nations in the seventh century, who appropriated culture freely wherever their eyes roamed, taking what they took not as conquerors but as borrowers, mastering it and transforming it to their measure, with the proud intent of surpassing what had gone before.
On the anniversary of its 46th National Day, the UAE is fighting fit and flying high. And that’s only the first act.
Fawaz Turki is a journalist, lecturer and author based in Washington. He is the author of The Disinherited: Journal of a Palestinian Exile. This is the first of an eight-part series to commemorate the UAE National Day.
This is the first of the eight-part series to commemorate the UAE National Day.