Ahmed Salat
Miriam Cooke’s Tribal Modern: Branding new nations in the Arab Gulf gives a detailed account of the development of the Gulf countries over the years and how the concepts of tribe and modernity interrelate and shape the social, economic and political aspects of these countries. As she follows history to explain how these countries have evolved from nomads in the Sahara and pearl collectors, to building the tallest and fanciest buildings in the world, Cooke sheds light on the idea of tribe and how it has influenced citizenship, promoted racism against foreigners- mostly Asians who came to these countries seeking jobs- and redefined social classes. She writes, “In today’s Gulf, tribe becomes race for exclusive citizenship; race becomes class for a larger share of the national wealth; wealth subsidizes the production of an essentialized tribal culture, a national culture appropriate for insertion into the twenty-first-century world where these Gulf states wish to play a major role.” (p 63) This shows how important of a determinant the tribe is and a source of exclusivity for certain people, mostly foreign workers.
While reading Cooke’s book, it was interesting to see how deeply rooted the institution of tribe has been and still is in these countries. For example, intermarriages have been used to keep purity within the tribe, as Cooke notices when she talks to the director of the Shafallah Medical Genetics in Doha, who tells her that in Qatar, 30% of marriages are between first cousins thus producing an “isolate society.” (p 47) While some people might think that the combination of the institutions of tribe and modernity is “a loss of tradition and a failure to modernize”, Cooke disagrees and says that the idea of tribe has enabled hypermodernity. The tribe gives these people a sense of belonging to a given nation thus promoting nationality.
I found interesting Cooke’s use of barzakh to explain the separation yet the interconnection of the tribal and modern. Her use of the Quranic verses to support her explanation of barzakh even makes it more captivating. To explain how this space (“barzakh”) between tribal and modern influenced each each aspect, she writes, “In the fifty-year barzakh linking and separating the pre-oil sheikhdoms and today’s nation-states, each is shaping the other in a dynamic, cultural-political field in which apparently contradictory states remain in balance, the tribal does not compromise with the modern, nor does the modern erase the tribal.” (p 75) The tribal modern is the barzakh which connects and disconnects the different identities of the nations.
Cooke’s use of personal anecdotes- from her couple visits to the Gulf both as early as 1973 when a country like Dubai was just “ a dusty town of one- and two-story mud buildings” (p 2) and as late as 2008 when Dubai had “a population that has increased twentyfold and skyscrapers blanketing miles upon miles of what used to be desert” (p 4)- give the novel authenticity while at the same time not to losing focus on the more important history of the development of these Gulf nations!
Cooke is such a great author and her books never disappoint. I read and loved Dancing in Damascus last semester and was excited to read Tribal Modern too and as I expected, it turned out to be a great read.
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