Emirati Nationalism in Global Age: Purifying the Society and Creation of Emirati Identity

Abstract

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) gained independence in 1971 through the unity of several sheikhdoms. This unification was initially more of a formality, undertaken to ensure the political independence and recognition of the state. However, once the UAE’s federal structure became a reality, the state needed to increase loyalty to the federal state. This study examines why the UAE needed to construct a common “Emirati” identity and how it went about building it. It argues that, like other nation-states, the UAE attempted to create an identity encompassing its citizens by excluding other historical and geographic identities; it aimed to purify its population via an attempt to show that UAE “expats” and “citizens” are completely distinct from each other. Therefore, this study examines both the UAE’s pre-independence cosmopolitanism and its post-independence national law and state targets in purifying the nation, a process exacerbated by high-level tension between the federal state and the emirates. Furthermore, this study deals with using symbols in identity construction via statesponsored initiatives. In the case of the UAE, these symbols include the myth of founding fathers, ethnic symbols, and other heritage matters, all of which are examined with reference to major theoretical works on modern nationalism such as Imagined Communities, Invention of Tradition, Banal Nationalism, and Ethno-Symbolism.