TY - CHAP
T1 - Working for God (and Country)
T2 - Religious Education and Economic Diversification in the United Arab Emirates
AU - El Shishtawy Hassan, Sharif Ibrahim
AU - Ozgen, Zeynep
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - While the role of state formation, British withdrawal, and the discovery of oil in transforming social life in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has received considerable attention, scholars have focused less on the role the state has played in leading particular forms of social change. In this chapter, we explore how the Emirati state has attempted to cultivate certain values among its citizens to support its goal of economic diversification. We find that the state has reformed its national education curriculum in an effort to equip Emirati youth with both the requisite skillset for transitioning to a knowledge economy and the mindset necessary to accommodate such a transition. Analyzing 24 Islamic education textbooks, totaling nearly 5,400 pages, we find that the revised curriculum reflects a concerted effort on the part of the Emirati state to develop a Muslim work ethic by framing capitalist values such as productivity and hard work as divinely ordained.
AB - While the role of state formation, British withdrawal, and the discovery of oil in transforming social life in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has received considerable attention, scholars have focused less on the role the state has played in leading particular forms of social change. In this chapter, we explore how the Emirati state has attempted to cultivate certain values among its citizens to support its goal of economic diversification. We find that the state has reformed its national education curriculum in an effort to equip Emirati youth with both the requisite skillset for transitioning to a knowledge economy and the mindset necessary to accommodate such a transition. Analyzing 24 Islamic education textbooks, totaling nearly 5,400 pages, we find that the revised curriculum reflects a concerted effort on the part of the Emirati state to develop a Muslim work ethic by framing capitalist values such as productivity and hard work as divinely ordained.
KW - Economic diversification
KW - Education reform
KW - Employment
KW - Islam
KW - United Arab Emirates
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U2 - 10.1007/978-981-19-7796-1_23
DO - 10.1007/978-981-19-7796-1_23
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85170238861
T3 - Gulf Studies
SP - 383
EP - 396
BT - Gulf Studies
PB - Springer
ER -