With this photography-based story, our new regular contributor, Latvian photographer Magda Jentgen who is currently living in Dubai, UAE, starts her series of weekly posts on exploring visually and conceptually the "strange" and different culture she is now living in. These posts will investigate the concept of "otherness" as well as similarities and differences between radically distant cultures, the one of the viewer, and the one of the viewed.
Last night was spent at a friends' goodbye BBQ party in the Al Warqaa desert in Dubai. When we arrived at location, before us lay the trashed desert. While once it used to be the home for the Bedouin population, it has now become a popular hangout spot for the younger generation. The desert used to be sacred, but now it has become a dumpster for the used plastic cups and cigarette buds.
The term Badawî which is where the term Bedouin comes from, literally means plain or desert. They are the people of the desert. It is their home and was once their way of life. However, here in Dubai, with the boom of the oil industry, a large part of that lifestyle diminished in just a few decades. While it may be easy to transform the lifestyle of these people, it is much harder to change the culture and the mindset of them. I found that out last night, when I spent the night in the desert with the descendants of the Bedouins. While they did not grow up being nomads like their ancestors, the love for the desert is still in their blood. It could be seen in everything, from the way they set up camp, to the way they served their traditional tea.
As an outsider it is always fascinating for me to see the few people left of the younger generation who still embrace their Emirati heritage and try to upkeep their traditions. However, it is sad to see the beautiful red sand dunes become trashed by the ones who do not understand just how much they used to mean to a Bedouin.
The term Badawî which is where the term Bedouin comes from, literally means plain or desert. They are the people of the desert. It is their home and was once their way of life. However, here in Dubai, with the boom of the oil industry, a large part of that lifestyle diminished in just a few decades. While it may be easy to transform the lifestyle of these people, it is much harder to change the culture and the mindset of them. I found that out last night, when I spent the night in the desert with the descendants of the Bedouins. While they did not grow up being nomads like their ancestors, the love for the desert is still in their blood. It could be seen in everything, from the way they set up camp, to the way they served their traditional tea.
As an outsider it is always fascinating for me to see the few people left of the younger generation who still embrace their Emirati heritage and try to upkeep their traditions. However, it is sad to see the beautiful red sand dunes become trashed by the ones who do not understand just how much they used to mean to a Bedouin.