Monarchies And Nations: Globalisation And Identity In The Ar

Despite their small populations, Arab states exercise an enormous and global influence. In most academic literature, however, they are treated as if their only importance were as counters on a strategic game board. This book takes a different approach. By combining the views of anthropologists, political scientists and others, it explores how the citizen populations of these states define themselves in a wider context. As elsewhere in a supposedly 'globalizing' world, local identity is at a premium. 'The Gulf' provides extreme examples, not only because these polities are so dependent on transnational flows of wealth and imagery, but because at home the citizen work-force is often out-numbered by migrant labour. The resultant identity-construction embraces an acute yet singular nationalism. Author Biography: Paul Dresch is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. James Piscatori is Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford and the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.