TRIBAL AFFILIATIONS IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE

Abstract

Photography in the Middle East has soared in the last decade as a practice of daily documentation and a dynamic form of visual communication in an organic and vernacular sense. This paper explores tribal dynamics and symbolic affiliations in today’s United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the use of imagery, specifically photography. The central question here is how content produced responds to geography and heritage and influences the identities shared. In exploring the answer, the study aims to untangle the complex psychologies of belonging in relation to physical and social boundaries within the defined attributes of identity and pride. Tribal affiliations are constituted upon an articulated framework of references, geographical and sociocultural boundaries, as convened via adornments as well as rituals and gender roles. People’s surroundings as well as their intimate and private spaces offer an incomparable — and indeed underestimated — insight into their values, cultures and ideologies. Identity, be it in the individual or plural sense, is endlessly reflected in everyday practices. This research visualizes and explores all the above, while deconstructing the dynamics using visual media tools in multimedia communication.