Everyday Youth Cultures in the Gulf Peninsula
Changes and Challenges
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Book Description
Focusing on the struggles of youth in the Arabian Gulf to find their place in their encounters with modernity, Everyday Youth Cultures in the Gulf Peninsula explores how global forces are reshaping everyday cultural experiences in authoritarian societies.
A deeper understanding of Gulf youth emerges from reading about the everyday lives and struggles, opportunities, and contributions of youth who, in the process of developing their personal identities, are also incrementally transforming their societies and cultures. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, the chapters bring fresh insight into Gulf youth microcultures from the ground and invite dialogue by engaging young local and foreign academics in the discussion.
In light of the general difficulties of accessing Gulf societies, the book’s nuanced, richly detailed depictions of everyday life can be of interest to academic research in Middle East studies, youth sociology, political science and anthropology, as well as to business and governmental decision-making.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Gulf Youth Cultures in the Everyday Emanuela Buscemi and Ildikó Kaposi
Part 1. Spaces of Engagement and Contestation
- Reshaping Political Participation in Nondemocratic Regimes: Youth Initiatives and Urban Practices in Kuwait
- The Saudi YouTube Phenomenon: From Anarchism to Institutionalism
- The Amiri Diwan and Kuwait’s Cultural Renaissance
- Engaging Young People in Charity in the State of Kuwait
- Youth and Religion in a Landscape of Change: Reflections on Practicing Ibadi-Islam in Oman
- When Love is Neither Showing nor Giving:. The Challenges of Valentine’s Day in Oman
- "Facing Life Together": Everyday Friendship and Well-Being among Dubai’s Indian Diaspora
David Sancho - Are You What You Eat? The Vegans of Kuwait
Emanuela Buscemi
Marwa Ehsan Fakih
Muneera Mohammed
Part 2. Traditions and Innovations
Soha M. Alterkait
Corina Lozovan
Marion Breteau
Part 3. Sociabilities and Identities
Ildikó Kaposi
9. "They Know What They Want, and They Don’t Settle for Less": Exploring Entrepreneurial Identity Formation among Young Women Entrepreneurs in Kuwait
Melissa E. Langworthy
Part 4. Practices of Inclusion in Education
10. Juvenile Improvisations: Designing for Youth in Abu Dhabi
Nadia Mounajjed
11. Islamic Education and Youth Culture: Exploring Tolerance in UAE Islamic Education Classrooms
Naved Bakali and Mariam Alhashmi
12. English Language Poetry and Qatari Students
Magda Rostron and Robert Marcacci
Conclusions
Ildikó Kaposi and Emanuela Buscemi
Editor(s)
Biography
Emanuela Buscemi teaches at the University of Monterrey (Mexico) after being based at the American University of Kuwait. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland). Her research interests include activism, resistance, gender politics in the Arabian Gulf and Latin America.
Ildikó Kaposi is assistant professor at the Department of Mass Communication and Media of the Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from Central European University, Budapest. Her work focuses on issues of democracy from the perspective of media and communication.