{"id":32353,"date":"2013-11-08T20:37:35","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T19:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/?p=32353"},"modified":"2013-11-08T20:39:21","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T19:39:21","slug":"the-state-vol-iv-dubai-rahel-aima-ahmad-makia-eds-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/?p=32353","title":{"rendered":"The State Vol IV: Dubai. Rahel Aima, Ahmad Makia (Eds.). The State."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the_state_vol_IV_dubai_motto_01\"<\/a>\"the_state_vol_IV_dubai_motto_02\"<\/a>\"the_state_vol_IV_dubai_motto_03\"<\/a>\"the_state_vol_IV_dubai_motto_04\"<\/a>\"the_state_vol_IV_dubai_motto_05\"<\/a>\"the_state_vol_IV_dubai_motto_06\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The State Vol IV: Dubai. Rahel Aima, Ahmad Makia (Eds.). The State.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Kerala, a term exists for people like my parents, bandied by neighbours and relatives \u2013 Gulf return. Always used in the singular, it is a term associated with privilege, a term for the once-insider who will die an outsider. It accentuates the success story, pretending to know and define those who, out of desperation, adventure or marriage, left their homes to seek work, and now return to expected social glory and envy.\u2014Deepak Unnikrishnan, \u201cGulf Return,\u201d Himal (December 2010)<\/p>\n

A few months ago, we found ourselves sitting in a blush-walled room in the grey area between Mattancherry and Fort Kochi, Kerala. We were in a Gulf Return house on a Gulf Return street, in a town built with Gulf Return money. Just a short ferry ride away was a Dubai Ports World terminal; right on our doorstep, at the nearby Kunnumpuram Junction, was a UAE Xchange outpost, and an ice cream parlour selling Sharjah Shakes. We had left Dubai, with the intention of producing this issue looking at it from across the Arabian Sea, but everywhere we looked, Dubai was all around us.<\/p>\n

Can you ever leave Dubai?<\/p>\n

In the last year, we\u2019ve produced THE STATE from Madagascar, Portugal, the US, India, and the UAE. Thus far, we\u2019ve been thinking of this publication as placeless, rooted only in the nebulous printernet. Turns out we\u2019ve been trying to figure out Dubai\u2014this strange, wonderful, occasionally traumatic place we grew up in\u2014all along. (Jury\u2019s still out on whether that trauma was due to Dubai, or just the turbulence of adolescence.) The thing is, we are the children of Gulf Returnees ourselves. We didn\u2019t leave our home countries to come here; Dubai\u2019s the only home we\u2019ve ever known. Yet most narratives of Dubai focus on its extremes\u2014solar-sintered skyscrapers made from sun, sand and glass or the unknown labourers that built them; unbridled admiration for its visionary transformation or vitriolic, xenophobic schadenfreude; searing desert heat or lush, landscaped golf courses. As residents-but-not-citizens, we\u2019re paradoxically privileged, yet invisible; our stories remain as yet untold.<\/p>\n

Our first questions linger. How do you speak a place, or from a place? Can cultural production have terroir? What does it mean to be a publication from Dubai that has thus far evaded ever actually addressing its positionality head on? Consider this a first attempt.<\/p>\n

Contents: <\/p>\n

The State Shall Remain Nameless
\nManan Ahmed Asif
\nAn Arabikatha
\nDeepak Unnikrishnan<\/p>\n

Teaching Moments in Dubai
\nAyesha Mulla<\/p>\n

Remembering My Narrow Veins
\nMaryam Wissam Al Dabbagh<\/p>\n

Sharjah Smells Like Biscuits
\nSophie Chamas<\/p>\n

5,000 Kilometres of Evocations: Bombay \u2013 Dubai \u2013 Mumbai
\nNilofar Ansher<\/p>\n

Aesthetics of Disempowerment
\nSheyma Buali
\nMemory Images from Dubai
\nBen Thorp Brown<\/p>\n

Speculations and Questions on Dubaization
\nFadi Shayya<\/p>\n

Indelible Marks: Africa\u2019s Traces On Dubai
\nJareh Das<\/p>\n

A Drone\u2019s Eye View of the Speculative Future
\nManuel Schwab<\/p>\n

The Brown Apple
\nJaswinder Bolina<\/p>\n

Language: English
\nPages: 140<\/p>\n

Price: \u20ac12.00<\/p>\n

Buy it<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The State Vol IV: Dubai. Rahel Aima, Ahmad Makia (Eds.). The State. In Kerala, a term exists for people like my parents, bandied by neighbours and relatives \u2013 Gulf return. Always used in the singular, it is a term associated with privilege, a term for the once-insider who will die an outsider. It accentuates the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[644,614,252],"tags":[3717],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32353"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32353"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32364,"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32353\/revisions\/32364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mottodistribution.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}