Download or read book Temporary People written by Deepak Unnikrishnan and published by Restless Books. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing "Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.… The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review In the United Arab Emirates, foreign nationals constitute over 80 percent of the population. Brought in to construct and serve the towering monuments to wealth that punctuate the skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, this labor force is not given the option of citizenship. Some ride their luck to good fortune. Others suffer different fates. Until now, the humanitarian crisis of the so-called “guest workers” of the Gulf has barely been addressed in fiction. With his stunning, mind-altering debut novel Temporary People, Deepak Unnikrishnan delves into their histories, myths, struggles, and triumphs. Combining the linguistic invention of Salman Rushdie and the satirical vision of George Saunders, Unnikrishnan presents twenty-eight linked stories that careen from construction workers who shapeshift into luggage and escape a labor camp, to a woman who stitches back together the bodies of those who’ve fallen from buildings in progress, to a man who grows ideal workers designed to live twelve years and then perish—until they don’t, and found a rebel community in the desert. With this polyphony of voices, Unnikrishnan maps a new, unruly global English and gives personhood back to the anonymous workers of the Gulf. "Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.… The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review "Inventive, vigorously empathetic, and brimming with a sparkling, mordant humor, Deepak Unnikrishnan has written a book of Ovidian metamorphoses for our precarious time. These absurdist fables, fluent in the language of exile, immigration, and bureaucracy, will remind you of the raw pleasure of storytelling and the unsettling nearness of the future." —Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine “Inaugural winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, this debut novel employs its own brand of magical realism to propel readers into an understanding and appreciation of the experience of foreign workers in the Arab Gulf States (and beyond). Through a series of almost 30 loosely linked sections, grouped into three parts, we are thrust into a narrative alternating between visceral realism and fantastic satire.... The alternation between satirical fantasy, depicting such things as intelligent cockroaches and evil elevators, and poignant realism, with regards to necessarily illicit sexuality, forms a contrast that gives rise to a broad critique of the plight of those known euphemistically as ‘guest workers.’ VERDICT: This first novel challenges readers with a singular inventiveness expressed through a lyrical use of language and a laserlike focus that is at once charming and terrifying. Highly recommended.” —Henry Bankhead, Library Journal, Starred Review “Unnikrishnan’s debut novel shines a light on a little known world with compassion and keen insight. The Temporary People are invisible people—but Unnikrishnan brings them to us with compassion, intelligence, and heart. This is why novels matter.” —Susan Hans O’Connor, Penguin Bookshop (Sewickley, PA) “Deepak Unnikrishnan uses linguistic pyrotechnics to tell the story of forced transience in the Arabian Peninsula, where citizenship can never be earned no matter the commitment of blood, sweat, years of life, or brains. The accoutrements of migration—languages, body parts, passports, losses, wounds, communities of strangers—are packed and carried along with ordinary luggage, blurring the real and the unreal with exquisite skill. Unnikrishnan sets before us a feast of absurdity that captures the cruel realities around the borders we cross either by choice or by force. In doing so he has found what most writers miss: the sweet spot between simmering rage at a set of circumstances, and the circumstances themselves.” —Ru Freeman, author of On Sal Mal Lane “Deepak writes brilliant stories with a fresh, passionate energy. Every page feels as if it must have been written, as if the author had no choice. He writes about exile, immigration, deportation, security checks, rage, patience, about the homelessness of living in a foreign land, about historical events so strange that, under his hand, the events become tales, and he writes tales so precisely that they read like history. Important work. Work of the future. This man will not be stopped.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution “From the strange Kafka-esque scenarios to the wholly original language, this book is amazing on so many different levels. Unlike anything I've ever read, Temporary People is a powerful work of short stories about foreign nationals who populate the new economy in the United Arab Emirates. With inventive language and darkly satirical plot lines, Unnikrishnan provides an important view of relentless nature of a global economy and its brutal consequences for human lives. Prepare to be wowed by the immensely talented new voice.” —Hilary Gustafson, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, MI) “Absolutely preposterous! As a debut, author Unnikrishnan shares stories of laborers, brought to the United Arab Emirates to do menial and everyday jobs. These people have no rights, no fallback if they have problems or health issues in that land. The laborers in Temporary People are sewn back together when they fall, are abandoned in the desert if they become inconvenient, and are even grown from seeds. As a collection of short stories, this is fantastical, imaginative, funny, and even more so, scary, powerful, and ferocious.” —Becky Milner, Vintage Books (Vancouver WA)
Download or read book Abu Dhabi the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf Region written by Frauke Heard-Bey and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unexpected decision of the British Government in January 1968 to withdraw its military and diplomatic protection from the Gulf catapulted the region into the limelight. For the following five decades the historian Dr. Frauke Heard-Bey was best placed to observe subsequent developments in the Gulf, having joined her husband David, a petroleum engineer, in Abu Dhabi in 1967. Through her role over decades in the Centre for Documentation and Research (now the UAEs National Archive), Frauke Heard-Bey made use of its archives about the Gulf, while taking every opportunity to travel in the area and immerse herself in the local environment. The work covers a broad spectrum, including the formation of the UAE in 1971, the subsequent development of this federation, the first oil crisis and geopolitical repercussions, urbanisation, labour migration, electoral systems, trade, the changing way of life and its implications for traditional loyalties in the Gulf states and Oman. The results of much of this work (which rely little on secondary sources) are collected in this volume, parts of which have been printed in hard-to access journals, while others are published here for the first time.
Download or read book The United Arab Emirates written by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Led by Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the UAE has become deeply embedded in the contemporary system of international power, politics, and policy-making. Only an independent state since 1971, the seven emirates that constitute the UAE represent not only the most successful Arab federal experiment but also the most durable. However, the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath underscored the continuing imbalance between Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the five northern emirates. Meanwhile, the post-2011 security crackdown revealed the acute sensitivity of officials in Abu Dhabi to social inequalities and economic disparities across the federation. The United Arab Emirates: Power, Politics, and Policymaking charts the various processes of state formation and political and economic development that have enabled the UAE to emerge as a significant regional power and major player in the post Arab Spring reordering of Middle East and North African Politics, as well as the closest partner of the US in military and security affairs in the region. It also explores the seamier underside of that growth in terms of the condition of migrant workers, recent interventions in Libya and Yemen, and, latterly, one of the highest rates of political prisoners per capita in the world. The book concludes with a discussion of the likely policy challenges that the UAE will face in coming years, especially as it moves towards its fiftieth anniversary in 2021. Providing a comprehensive and accessible assessment of the UAE, this book will be a vital resource for students and scholars of International Relations and Middle East Studies, as well as non-specialists with an interest in the United Arab Emirates and its global position.
Download or read book Evolution of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates written by Athol Yates and published by Helion and Company. This book was released on 2020-12-10 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While today the military of the United Arab Emirates is described admiringly as a 'little Sparta', just 60 years ago the only security forces in the Emirates were the armed retainers of the Ruling Sheikhs and a small British-led, locally-raised Arab force. Through a combination of direct oversight by rulers, investment in its nationals, engagement of expatriates and the purchase of cutting edge military hardware, the UAE Armed Forces has become, arguably, the most capable Arab military. In the last decade, it has also gained considerable experience through its military operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. This book traces the little-known history of the country’s military from 1951 to 2020. It provides unparalleled detail on the constituent forces that evolved into the UAE Armed Forces in 1976, and how that unified force has evolved to the present. It provides essential background information on how the country’s geography, demographics and political system have shaped its military, the enduring roles of the military and the history of each military service. It also details the political and command structure governing the military, and its manpower and materiel characteristics. The book concludes with an explanation of how the UAE has been able to develop such a highly capable military for its size in a relatively short period of time.
Download or read book Education in the United Arab Emirates written by Kay Gallagher and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of the evolution of education in the United Arab Emirates from its humble beginnings in palm frond huts, to today's proliferation of prestigious international schools and global university branch campuses. The chapter authors are academic experts who have extensive first-hand experience of contemporary developments in the country's various educational sectors. The book addresses innovations and transformations in Early Childhood Education, Higher Education, K-12 Schooling, Language Education in Arabic and English, Quality Assurance, Special Needs, STEM Education, and Teacher Education and Professional Development.
Download or read book United Arab Emirates written by Hendrik Bohle and published by Dom Publishers. This book was released on 2016 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Architecture in the United Arab Emirates boasts a great diversity of design pos sibilities. IN addition to famous record-breaking buildings in Abu Dhabi and Dubai as well as the neo-traditional edifices found in Sharjah, sophisticated constructions and trendsetting projects can also be found in the smaller emirates. FUrthermore, there are numerous examples of a new generation of Emirati architecture, whose focus lies on sustainability and the preservation of diverse building traditions. Presented in this architectural guide are more than 200 buildings and projects in this still young country which, owing to its rich oil reserves, has been catapulted within three generations from austere Bedouin culture into the era of the Burj Khalifa. EXamined is everything from spectacular high-tech structures to Islamic-Arab projects. THe depiction is complemented by interviews with international and local architects, well-informed articles and knowledgeable essays related to culture and history. The joint authors of Hendrik Bohle and Jan Dimog cast a critical and well-informed eye on the multi-faceted architecture and visionary construction projects in the United Arab Emirates. THis title thus presents a complex portrait of this ever-evolving land.
Download or read book The Report Abu Dhabi 2016 written by Oxford Business Group and published by Oxford Business Group. This book was released on 2016-05-09 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subdued oil prices prompted a trimmed federal budget for 2016 as the UAE, like other countries in the region, tightened its belt in response to falling hydrocarbons revenues. However, a sustained focus on economic diversification and targeted investment in Abu Dhabi’s key non-oil sectors in recent years means the emirate is well positioned to weather the storm. Looking forward, plans for future development are mapped out in Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, a comprehensive economic policy document that aims to reduce dependence on oil and gas, thereby creating a more sustainable knowledge-based economy for the emirate and its inhabitants. Aided by hydrocarbons reserves that are among the world’s largest and substantial financial resources, Abu Dhabi has built up a strong foundation to become a regional leader and an increasingly important global player in a wide variety of sectors, including oil and gas, financial services, health care, aviation and renewable energy.
Download or read book Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates written by Daniel T. Potts and published by Trident Press Ltd. This book was released on 2003 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book United Arab Emirates UAE written by Kenneth Katzman and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The UAE¿s relatively open borders, economy, and society have won praise from advocates of expanded freedoms in the Middle East while producing financial excesses, social ills such as prostitution and human trafficking, and relatively lax controls on sensitive technologies acquired from the West. Contents of this report: (1) Governance, Human Rights, and Reform: Status of Political Reform; Human Rights-Related Issues; (2) Cooperation Against Terrorism and Proliferation; (3) Foreign Policy and Defense Cooperation With the U.S.: Regional Issues; Security Cooperation with the U.S.: Relations With Iran; Cooperation on Iraq; Cooperation on Afghanistan and Pakistan; U.S. and Other Arms Sales; UAE Provision of Foreign Aid; (4) Economic Issues.
Download or read book From Rags to Riches written by Mohammed Al-Fahim and published by I. B. Tauris. This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Born in 1948, in Abu Dhabi, the author knew dreadful poverty for years before fabulous oil wealth transformed his country forever. He grew up in the ruler's palace, barefoot like his playmates, now senior figures in the United Arab Emirates." "This is a vivid eye-witness account of the total transformation within only 30 years of a Bedouin society into a country with the world's highest per capita income. He speaks with great frankness about his own life and career and about the role of the British in his country."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Abu Dhabi written by Christopher M. Davidson and published by Hurst Publishers. This book was released on 2011 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abu Dhabi is a new economic superpower that will soon wield enormous influence across both developing and developed worlds. The principal emirate of the United Arab Emirates federation commands over 8 percent of global oil reserves, has nearly $1 trillion in sovereign wealth funds to invest and is busily implementing a thoughtful economic master plan. It has also pumped huge amounts of money into culture, sport and infrastructural development in an attempt to eclipse even its ubiquitous UAE partner-Dubai-as an international household name. Abu Dhabi will host the Formula One Championship decider in 2009, is opening the world's first Ferrari theme park, has a rapidly expanding airline and is setting up satellite branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums. Gulf expert Christopher Davidson's book charts the emirate's remarkable trajectory from its origins as an eighteenth-century sheikdom to its present position on the cusp of preeminence. Abu Dhabi's impressive socio-economic development, he offers a frank portrayal of a dynasty's dramatic survival, demonstrating the newfound resilience of a traditional monarchy in the twenty-first century and its efforts to create a system of 'tribal capitalism' that incorporates old political allegiances into modern engines of growth. Finally, he turns his attention to a number of problems that may surface to impede economic development and undermine political stability. These include an enfeebled civil society and invasive media censorship, a seemingly unsolvable labor nationalization paradox, an under performing education sector, and increasing federal unrest.
Download or read book Keepers of the Golden Shore written by Michael Quentin Morton and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For those who visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE), staying in its the lavish hotels and browsing in the ultra-modern shopping malls of Abu Dhabi or Dubai, the country can be a mystery, a glass and concrete creation that seems to have sprung from the desert overnight. Keepers of the Golden Shore looks behind this glossy façade, illuminating the region’s history, which stretches from the ancient Arabian tribes who controlled a desolate but economically important shoreline to the ostentatious architectural wonders—bankrolled by a massive wealth of oil—that characterize it today. As Michael Quentin Morton recounts, the region now known as the UAE likely began as a trading post between Mesopotamia and Oman, and since that time has been the stage of important economic and cultural exchanges. It has seen the rise and fall of a thriving pearl industry, piracy, invasions and wars, and the arrival of the oil age that would make it one of the richest countries on earth. Since the early 1970s, when seven sheikhs agreed to enter into a union, it has been a sovereign nation, carrying on the resourceful spirit—with resplendent fervor—that the brutally inhospitable landscape has long demanded of the people. Ultimately, Morton shows that the country is not only rich in oil and money but in an extraordinarily deep history and culture.
Download or read book The History of the United Arab Emirates written by John A. Shoup and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-11-05 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the political, cultural, and economic history of the United Arab Emirates, from early antiquity to the present. The United Arab Emirates is a relatively young country in the Middle East, made up of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain. How did these seven separate emirates come together to form the United Arab Emirates? This volume explores the long, rich history of these seven emirates, focusing on political history but also highlighting culture, society, economy, and religion. Chronologically arranged chapters examine major eras and turning points in history, such as antiquity, the rise of Islam, British trade, and the discovery of black gold: oil. Readers will learn how today, most of the UAE's citizens are foreigners from other countries, as well as how much of the country's economy and livelihood depend on oil. An appendix of Notable People in the History of the United Arab Emirates serves to identify key players in the region's history, and an annotated bibliographic essay provides readers with sources for further research. Ideal for students, this volume is an important addition to the Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations series.
Download or read book Planning Abu Dhabi written by Alamira Reem Bani Hashim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-25 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abu Dhabi’s urban development path contrasts sharply with its exuberant neighbour, Dubai. As Alamira Reem puts it, Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates since 1971, ‘has been quietly devising its own plans ... to manifest its role and stature as a capital city’. Alamira Reem, a native Abu Dhabian and urban planner and researcher who has studied the emirate’s development for more than a decade, is uniquely placed to write its urban history. Following the introduction and description of Abu Dhabi’s early modern history, she focuses on three distinct periods dating from the discovery of oil in 1960, and coinciding with periods in power of the three rulers since then: Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1960–1966), Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1966–2004), and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2004–). Based on archival research, key interviews and spatial mapping, she analyses the different approaches of each ruler to development; investigates the role of planning consultants, architects, developers, construction companies and government agencies; examines the emergence of comprehensive development plans and the policies underlying them; and assesses the effects of these many and varied influences on Abu Dhabi’s development. She concludes that, while much still needs to be done, Abu Dhabi’s progress towards becoming a global, sustainable city provides lessons for cities elsewhere.
Download or read book The Political Culture of Leadership in the United Arab Emirates written by A. Rugh and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-03-05 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book describes the impact of cultural perceptions on rulers' behaviors in the United Arab Emirates, once the Trucial States. Despite differences in size, economic resources, and external political pressures, the seven emirates' rulers utilized very similar cultural expectations to gain the support of others.
Download or read book THIS GUY S ON HIS OWN TRIP written by Neeraj Narayanan and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2020-07-30 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fear of the unknown bothers most of us, even if it comes at the cost of chasing our dreams. How many of us want to drop everything that we are doing and travel the world? How many of us do? Neeraj Narayanan just did that, quitting his job one day and flying to Barcelona. Join him on his journey as he takes you rollicking across some countries in Europe and South East Asia, motoring up high mountain passes, hiding in jungles and being part of crazy festivals, hoping to find pretty girls in pursuit but only ending up with furious bulls, bears, and gypsies on his tail. At some point, he has almost no money left but his resolve to build a life out of travel doesn’t ebb. This is a witty yet heart-warming tale of one man’s solo journey for a year. While he goes to find beautiful places, he ends up finding trust, compassion, and a universe conspiring to make all his dreams come true. This guy’s really on his own trip and promises to take you on one too!
Download or read book Following My Thumb written by Gabriel Morris and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following My Thumb follows the wandering, rambling, bumbling travels of Gabriel Morris from 1990-2000. In the summer of 1990, at the age of 18, he sets off to Europe with his over-sized backpack, thumb guiding the way. He hitchhikes the entire length of Great Britain, sleeps in barns, on bridges and beaches and under benches, explores the Greek Isles, sneaks into a Parisian movie theater, spends a night at the center of the Place de la Concorde roundabout, and more. In Part 2 of the book, he spends the bulk of the mid-1990s as a wandering traveler back home in the United States, searching for something elusive: a place to call home, a community, love, adventure, meaning, purpose. He both finds and loses all to varying degrees as he attends tribal Rainbow Gatherings in the woods, falls in and out of love on the road, lives on farms and communes, and spends several months in an idyllic valley, far from civilization in the Hawaiian rainforest. The book culminates with his amazing and thought-provoking travels in the mystical land of India. ,
