PowerSociety:ArabianPeninsula

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course is grounded in a sociological perspective of the Arabian Peninsula which questions statist representations shown in certain imagery, literature and discourses constructed by those who control and exercise power while deconstructing some established frames as the sole explanations for these societies’ dynamics. The course provides a look into the sociopolitical dynamics of the Gulf Arab states (i.e., Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) and their role in shaping their domestic evolutionary trends. It provides an in-depth perspective on social transformations and political dynamics at play in Gulf Arab societies, including diversity of social structure and change, public involvement in shaping social and political life as well as emergence of different forms of social mobilization and dissent. It critically surveys and reflects on important issues including tribal dynamics, gender patterns and family trends, youth political engagement and activism, citizenship and belonging, sharp social hierarchies and statelessness, labor migration, entertainment industry, racial capitalism, neoliberal urbanism and rapid transformations of physical landscape across Gulf cities, among other issues. The course will discuss the role of religion and competing nationalisms as both legitimizing variables for the ruling elites as well as elements undermining some of them, prompted by doctored domestic sectarianism and identity politics that has facilitated sectarianization of domestic politics, translated into further uncertainties and contingencies, mainly during and in the aftermath of the 2010-11 Arab popular uprisings. Finally, the course concludes with deconstruction of assumptions and conventional discourses surrounding Yemen amid regional and global domination