Fulcrum Publishing On The New Cosmopolitan: Dubai and it's influence

"On the Gaze: Dubai and Its New Cosmopolitanisms engages with the spectacular growth of the city of Dubai, a once small but busy Arabian Gulf town known for its pearl divers and fishing trade. Author Adrianne Kalfopoulou follows the changes of the town, an informal British Protectorate, like the cluster of coastal sheikhdoms that included Oman and Abu Dhabi, known as the Trucial States for the protective treaties signed with the United Kingdom, Dubai became one of the seven Arab states which formed the UAE (United Arab Emirates) in 1971. The Gulf town of the 1950s expanded notably during the reign of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (1968-1990), whose foresightedness and risk-taking acuity were seminal in securing key infrastructure projects such as the expansion of the Dubai Creek harbor and the Jebel Ali port that transformed the town into a regional trade hub, building the foundation for today's commercial attractions as much as the optics of its spectacular skyline of architectural wonders. Uniquely, today's nexus of twenty-first century cosmopolitanisms caters to all manner of the gaze"-- "ON THE GAZE is an exploration of cosmopolitanism and its 21st-century manifestation in Dubai. "What do I see? Neon contours of a building at night. A near-empty walkway with a flashing monitor that reads: "Dubai Digital Park"; in the morning I see a concrete expanse of flat apartment rooftops amidst a humid, sand-infused horizon, the steaming heat of the desert temperature in August. Plasma screens along a walkway show various scenes of people eating, exercising, shopping, the only people I see. I am inan area called Silicon Oasis. Dubai, a city where 70% of the world is within an 8-hour plane flight from its airport, was built to represent the geographical factuality of its being a crossroads between East and West. A contemporary city of spectacle andthe spectacular, it caters to all manner of the gaze"-- What does it mean to be cosmopolitan? To be a crossroads, a gathering place, a center for world commerce? Explore the meaning of Dubai as a nation-state at the corssroads of the world, gathering people together from around the world. Much like Syros in ancient Greece was once at the center of world commerce, Dubai has evolved into a twenty-first-century nexus for new cosmopolitanisms. Both as a port and desert city, Adrianne Kalfopoulou imagines how Dubai has projected itself onto these screens as an idea for the future — and the present. By exploring the development of Dubai both through the lens of philosophers like Baudrillard and his “ hyperreal” as well as by digging into the city’ s history, from its disastrous collapse as a pearl-diving mecca through its complex evolution into a member of the United Arab Emirates. On The Gaze: Dubai and it’ s new Cosmopolitanisms fleshes out the story of Dubai, revealing it through multiple gazes. Kalfopoulou’ s fantastic writing and inward searching brings readers along as as she examines what Dubai means to her, to the Arab world, and to the world as a whole. “ We follow Kalfopoulou’ s multiple gazes— temporal, abstract, theore Autorid: Adrianne Kalfopoulou