• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

Sociology and Anthropology of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula

Module description

This module will critically explore the contemporary social dynamics of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula’s societies. It is structured around main themes that will provide an in-depth comparative perspective on social changes and fracture lines at work in Gulf societies and question the historicity and social constructedness of social categories used to study these societies. The module engages in particular a critical reflection on migration, mobility and social hierarchies; dynamics of tribes and tribalism; the organisation and practice of Gulf cities; the development of new individual subjectivities; the transformation of family and gender; and the narratives and counter-narratives on Gulf modernity.

This module is suitable for specialist and non-specialist alike. No prior knowledge is required.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The main aim of this module is to provide you with specialised knowledge and critical understanding of the societies of the contemporary Gulf and Arabian Peninsula. This module aims particularly at exploring the social dynamics and fracture lines at work in this region and to show how social categories are historically and politically constructed. Through deconstructing the supposed Gulf exceptionalism, this course further aims to develop your analytical thinking skills as independent researchers and your intellectual ability to place issues discussed in a wider context, beyond common knowledge immediately available in the media, or conventional readings of the region’s society, politics and economy.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Identify and critically assess the main contemporary social dynamics in the societies of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, including the historical foundations of social structures and hierarchies; the debates about migration and citizenship; the organisation and production of Gulf cities; and the narratives and counter-narratives of modernity.
• 2. Critically evaluate different analytical and methodological approaches and concepts in the study of societies of the Arabian Peninsula.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Demonstrate an ability to draw from broader concepts in sociology and anthropology, and to analyse the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula through conceptual lenses established in the study of other regions of the world.
• 4. Demonstrate an ability to embrace a multi-disciplinary approach in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the topic.
• 5. Analyse and assess academic texts and prevailing notions critically.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate skills of reasoned and supported argumentation in writing and in oral presentation.
• 7. Demonstrate skills of finding, analysing and synthesising information from a range of sources.
• 8. Engage in independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, the syllabus will cover all of the following topics:

• Introduction: Deconstructing Gulf exceptionalism
• Origins of Social Hierarchies: Historical Circulations & Introduction of Nationality
• Contemporary Dynamics of Tribes and Tribalism
• “Transit States”: Migration, Kafala, Labour Market
• Impossible Citizens: Social Changes, Mobilities and the Myth of Temporariness
• Theorising the Organisation of Gulf Societies: Marxist and Anthropological Perspectives
• The Production of Gulf Cities: Segregation and Interactions
• Seeing from the Margins: Social Ordering and Subversive Practices
• Family and Gender Transformations in the Arabian Peninsula
• Bodies, Norms and Transgressions
• Narratives and Counter-Narratives of Gulf Modernity

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Al-Rasheed, Madawi. A Most Masculine State. Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

Beaugrand, Claire. Stateless in the Gulf: Migration, Nationality and Society in Kuwait (I. B. Tauris, 2017).

Bsheer, Rosie. ‘Whither Arabian Peninsula Studies?’, in A. Ghazal and J. Hanssen (eds). The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History (Oxford University Press, 2015).

Carapico, Sheila (ed.). Arabia Incognita: Dispatches from Yemen and the Gulf (Just World Books, 2016).

Elsheshtawy, Yasser. Temporary Cities. Resisting Transience in Arabia (Routledge, 2019).

Khalaf, Abdulhadi, Omar Alshehabi and Adam Hanieh (eds). Transit States. Labour, Migration and Citizenship in the Gulf (Pluto Press, 2014).

Lori, Noora. Offshore Citizens. Permanent Temporary Status in the Gulf (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

Menoret, Pascal. Joyriding in Riyadh. Oil, Urbanism and Road Revolt (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=12598

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

The International Crisis Group’s reports at www.crisisgroup.org;

Human Rights Watch (Middle East) produces good reports on the states of the Arabian Peninsula: http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-east/n-africa

Key words search

Sociology, Anthropology, Gulf, Arabian Peninsula, Middle East.