We need more books in Arabic by local authors

The book on a friendly ghaf tree who tells the stories of the desert and its creatures

Over the recent Eid al Adha holidays, I had a long, rambling conversation with an Emirati friend about the ways in which the UAE has changed in the years since I first arrived and since he was born. In summary, it has changed quite a lot. Indeed, my friend is very involved in trying to push forward with more changes.

In his spare time, he has started a publishing house. And our conversation was devoted, in part, to the kind of books he hopes to publish and the audiences he hopes to reach.

He is naturally much more in touch with Arabic language publishing than I am, and one point he was keen to make was the need for more books in Arabic, written by local authors. Translations of classics originally written in other languages are all very well, but where is the local output, he asked, that reflects the country’s history, traditions and heritage or that addresses the challenges of today and tomorrow within an Emirati context?

Emirati farmers harvest dates in Abu Dhabi's Liwa oasis, on July 25, 2021, during the Liwa Date Festival. AFP

Merchants and sailors from the UAE didn’t just go to India, but also traded with the coast of East Africa

One of his projects that will eventually result in a book is a study of trees in his Emirate. Not species of trees, but individual trees and the stories associated with them. Were they traditional meeting points? Are there historical tales associated with them? Did battles take place nearby? Did they mark old borders between villages? This could be fascinating and not just for Emiratis.

From that point, we diverged into the nature of UAE society today. Not the society of Emirati citizens, but rather the society of all of those who live in the Emirates.

We all know that the UAE’s population is multiethnic and multicultural. It is impossible to walk around without noticing that. Occasions like Eid or Christmas or Diwali are celebrated in homes across the UAE.

To what extent, however, do our sub-populations, whatever their origins, actually relate to one another? The relationships between them are often circumscribed, at work, for example, or in the process of buying and selling of goods and services. How much do our various communities really understand of how the others live? Very little, I suspect, and that applies to me as much as to anyone.

One of the books published by my friend is a memoir by an Emirati who went to study in Japan, offering tales of his own experiences. A book on the memories of Emiratis studying elsewhere in the Arab world, or in Britain or the US, may not yield many new insights, though the tales themselves might be interesting. But in Japan? Yes, that’s something different, not just for Emiratis, but also perhaps for Japanese, who might be fascinated to learn how a stranger looked at their society and way of life.

It might also be useful to hear from some of the UAE’s non-Emirati communities about their experiences and some of the lessons that they have learnt from living in the Emirates.

Too often, members of different communities rarely encounter other communities in a social context. Yet it is here that the best opportunities exist for actually learning about each other.

There is scope, my friend thinks, for us to pay more attention to the issue of promoting greater knowledge between the various communities. Through that can come a better understanding of similarities and differences that exist and the reasons for them. We might recognise that co-existence requires an acceptance and welcoming of our differences.

The process works both ways. Thanks to travel, business and education, many Emiratis have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the way of life in the home countries of many UAE residents. There remains though much to learn.

On the other side of the coin, how many people of non-Emirati origins, who have made their homes in the UAE, have any real knowledge of the country or a real interest in it, beyond what they need to know for their daily lives? Are they familiar with the importance of the date palm in traditional life? How many know that the people of the coastal settlements, those of the mountains and those of the deserts have different traditions? How much knowledge is there, outside the Emirati community, of the fact that merchants and sailors from here didn’t just go to and from India, but also traded with the coast of East Africa?

I wish my friend well with his publishing enterprise. Not just in terms of the sale of his books, but in terms of attracting authors of a wide range of nationalities who can share the task of explaining to those who live here more about the fascinating complexities of our multicultural life in the Emirates.