Information and Geography of the United Arab Emirates - Term Paper Example

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates is a country which is bordering Saudi Arabia to the south and Oman to the east. Furthermore, it is situated towards the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. The country was established in the year 1971. In the year 2012, the total population of UAE was estimated to be over 9.2 million. One of the populous cities of the country is Dubai. This is city has developed in to aninternational hub for finance, retail and tourism. I am from UAE and rationale of the paper is based on cultural self-assessment. Furthermore, I love to travel a lot. This provides me an opportunity to meet new people and apprehend different cultural background people. Cultureof United Arab Emirates The ancient culture of United Arab Emirates is viewed as rich and experienced drastic alteration after the discovery of petrol. Likewise, UAE has completed a distinctive cultural jumble in the middle of the state of the art technologies and ancestral traditions. History The cultural background of Emirati has been significantly influenced by the cultural beliefs, values and philosophies of East Africa, India and Persia The architecture which is being inspired by the Persian and Arabian is viewed to be as the pivotal part of the local Emirati distinctiveness and identity. The influence of Persian can be notably visible in the traditional folk arts and architecture of Emirati. One of the prime examples for notifying and classifying the traditional architecture of Emirati is barjeel. Moreover, this example attributes the influence of Persian towards the traditional architecture of UAE. Before the year 1971, Trucial states were the primary name of seven emirates. The name Trucial states originated from the agreements of maritime which was held between the leading sheikhs and British. The economic life of United Arab Emirates is heavily dependent on sea trade and pearl diving. The cultural experience provides vivid information about enhancement of personal self-awareness. Social status factors The social life of UAE is primarily built and based on religion of Islam. The UAE labor forces have been heavily determined by the social factors. I belong to a middle class family. It has been revealed that people staying in the United Arab Emirates are in much better financial position than that of many parts of the people in the North Africa and Middle East. Experts from industrial sector states that middle class families in UAE save and earn more money that than of households in other regions. Moreover, this is because of superior job prospects, better living standards and improved infrastructure. The high stand of living and better job prospect molded and influenced me to change my outlook about the society. Social group interactions patterns Group orientation and identity in UAE is basically defined by family and groups. The cooperation between social group members is maintained by harmony. Hospitality, reciprocation and group stability is of huge importance in UAE. The communication between family members focuses on pattern of communication which is within business encounters, extended and nuclear relationships. The interaction patterns between family members influence me to be aware about the cultural contextual. Value orientations The general ethical orientation aspect of the United Arab Emirates is characterized by particularistic and personality. Furthermore, the characteristic of authority and interpersonal relationships aspects are group oriented and high respected. The social structure orientation is lateral stratification and greater degree of vertical. People with high prestige and status are very highly concerned. Language The national language of UAE is Arabic. The Emirati people speak the Gulf language of Arabic. Likewise, other broadly used languages in UAE are Balochi, Malayalam, Bengali, Nepali, Persian and Pashto. Different language provided me opportunity to learn and speak different languages. I speak in both Arabic and English. It helps me to interact with regional as well as cross-border people. Communication patterns The communication style is viewed as high-context and effectively emphasize on personal relationships. Moreover, the high-context style of communication means that larger amount of contextual information is being presented and shared with people doing corporate businesses. It is believed that people that are living in United Arab Emirates would make truthful effort to be concerned and friendly. The power of words, eloquence and ability to speak are of great value to the people of UAE. One good way to provide appropriate answer to the questions asked is open-ended questions. For new entrants of business in UASE, it is vital to earn trust and build relationships. Verbal and non-verbal communication is vital to judge the sincerity and ability of an individual. Non-verbal communication is viewed as important part for any execution of business. The high-context communication style helped me to be sincere and enhance the ability to provide great value towards the communication. Family life processes The indicators of family life processes effectively define the communication between the family members. Likewise, the interaction and communication is based on satisfaction, communication patterns and relationships. The level of family satisfaction in UAE is viewed to be as high. The satisfaction between family members is heavily influenced by the culture, economics and family structure. It is believed that citizens that are living in the United Arab Emirates are more satisfied with the lifestyle and cultural norms and beliefs. The level of labor satisfaction is higher. This is primarily based on the standard of living conditions and level of infrastructure. Moreover, this makes me aware of the culture. Healing practices and beliefs The bulk of people that are living in UAE are Muslims. The Islamic religion and Arabic Culture is based on putting emphasize on creating healthy diet routine and personal hygiene practices. Reading and prayers from the Bible and Quran is viewed to provide family members and patients a sense of belief and comfort. It is also believed that reading and prayers can enhance the recovery of patients in UAE. Some of the people IN UAE used to wear amulets which arethought to provide protection and safeguard from evil eye. Family members and patients are always anxious to receive immediate healing rather than waiting for prolonged time and seeking help from professionals. This provides enough information to state that cultural background of UAE enhances my viewpoint towards healing beliefs. People in UAE have utmost confidence in the profession of medical sector and place great significance in the Western medicine. It is also supposed that female and male patients in UAE prefer to get help for male doctors rather female doctors. People also consider that recovery from occurrence of illness or any health issues is based on the will of God and level of professional treatment. Furthermore, the death is believed to be decided by the will of God. Religion The majority of religion in UAE is Islam. According to census 2005, 9 percentage of population is Christianity, 76 percentage of population is Islam and 15 percentage of population is Hinduism. Among the residents, it has been notified that there is more number of Sunni than that of Shiite Muslims. The number of Ahmadi and Ismailis Muslims are smaller in number. Religion in UAE is viewed as the vital component and regarded as the basis in the political system and cultural background. The General Authority of Islamic Endowments and Affairs named Awqaf administer Sunni mosques which is based on following sermons and approved by government. This is one of the factor which shaped me understand different cultural background in the country. Art and expression forms Nabati poetry is regarded as the celebrated form of literary in United Arab Emirates. Spoken dialect is viewed as the primary source for composing local poets and influences my knowledge towards art forms. Arabic Booker Award is one of the utmost prestigious award ceremony established in the year 2008. In UAE, there are several types of competition and literary festivals which are based on focusing on celebrating the literacy form, superior art and tradition literature. The culture of UAE has been heavily influenced by poetry. The foremost subjects of the Arab poetry are based on love, family, patriotism, chivalry, satire and religion. Furthermore, theme of Arab poets ranges from narrative to descriptive. In the 20th century, the classical Arabic poetry by Ahmed bin Sulayem and Mubarak Al Oqaili are regarded as the greatest luminaries. The local literacy parts were also influenced by pose poetry. Diet and food The cuisine of Emirati is a combination of Asian and Middle Eastern foods. For over centuries, seafood is viewed as the primary food for the diet of Emirati. Some of the popular beverages of people are tea and coffee. Mutton and lamb are further preferred meats. Sheep, yeast bread, kebab, fish, dates, camel meat, kabsa are some of the dishes that are included in the cuisine of UAE. Vegetables are mainstay for maintaining diet. Recreation and clothing Camel racing is regarded as the integral part of the tradition and legacy of the United Arab Emirates (Hurriez 143). Car rallying is a newcomer in the motorsport racing scene. Cricket and football are some of the popular sports played in the UAE. Kandoora is the traditional Emirati clothes that are preferred by many older Emirati men. Abaya is the traditional clothes that are used by local women. Among the youth generation of Emirati, the western-style is equally common. This makes me feel aware of the cultural background of UAE and help me to make understand people about the love of Arabians for the mentioned sports and events. Work Cited Hurriez, Sayyid. Folklore and Folk life in the United Arab Emirates. London: Routledge, 2013. Print. Read More