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This chapter examines the impact of oil on the twin processes of state formation and space-making in the Trucial States and United Arab Emirates and Sultanate of Oman in the mid-twentieth century. In much of the literature on the history of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, these processes are linked through oil concessions. Concessions necessitated the demarcation of domestic and international boundaries in the Arabian Peninsula, a key part of the state formation process. This chapter looks instead at state formation through a new means of oil-fuelled mobility – automobility. Beginning in the early 1950s and surging dramatically at the end of the 1960s, the automobile rapidly displaced older modes of transportation, in the process becoming synonymous with modernisation and state-building. The automobile's speed and power sparked violence, necessitated new modes of regulation as well as a new road network, and made the state visible and tangible in even the most remote areas of the region. New boundaries between states were demarcated, with different rules for travel by car and by foot or animal. In the process, new understandings of space emerged, and state control over territory dramati-cally intensified. Eventually, it became both physically possible and morally permissible for UAE and Omani citizens (and others) to travel to places that had not been open to them before, while other patterns of circulation were closed off by a new international border; automobility and roads created both new freedoms and new restrictions. Through the lens of automobility, oil's role in state formation becomes more complex and contested, as various actors ranging from British Political Agents to local sheikhs wrestled with how new forms of movement ought to be governed.Two spatial imaginaries frame the chapter's analysis – the pre-oil dirah, rooted in seasonal migrations and kinship relations, and the nascent dawla (state), which required free movement within demarcated boundaries. The shift from the dirah to the dawla is traced through several episodes involving automobile travel. The potential of automobility to undermine the existing political and spatial order is seen in the 1938 Majlis Movement in Dubai and in a 1950 conflict in Shaʾam, in northern Ras al-Khaimah.

When Oman joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative to pursue economic diversification, the US intervened to stop it. Although the foundation stone for Chinese investment plans was laid in 2017, these projects were put on hold, while the US rushed to bolster its military presence in Oman. The article studies Chinese investment in Oman, accounts for what has developed so far, and highlights the reasons for which the US acted to stem the potential of non-oil development in Oman. The disruption of the China-Oman diversification project resembles the US’s targeting of China’s policy of expansion by mutual cooperation elsewhere, but with a twist: Oman sits close to two vital chokepoints, the Bab Al-Mandeb and the Hormuz straits. The article argues that such obstruction is central to the US’s mode of accumulation by militarism. Keeping Oman from auto-developing and building its autonomy makes of it a pliable client state ready to serve as an imperialist post to empire.

Geotourism is a form of natural area tourism that focuses on geology and natural heritage of the land. Geoconservation and geological heritage are considered now as a new challenge for geological research which concentrate on the preservation of sites of geological value. Oman is considered by geologists and geotourists as an open geologic book and a big wonderful outdoor geological Museum with unique geological features. The country offers many geological features which are spectacular or unique. The geological stories can be found everywhere in Oman, where one can explore the fascinating geology in one of the most varied and diverse landscapes – from gravel to sand to salt, Oman has a landscape, outcrop, archaeological sites, local culture and fascinating human stories or formation to suit everyone. Therefore, the country attracts more and more geosciences students to study geology in the field, as well as tourists to enjoy the spectacular scenery. As a consequence, thereof geological heritage is in danger of being destroyed due to lack of awareness, and the need to protect unique geological sites and landscapes.

The purpose of the present chapter is to give the reader an overview of the current science education research in Oman. The chapter focuses on three main sections as an overview of the country, an overview of the education development, and the current situation of science education. It addresses the emerging technologies in relation to science education including blended education and e-learning developments. The chapter then discusses the requirements for better implementation of science education along with the future strategies to overcome the challenges and issues that facing science teachers in Oman. It concludes by recommending the importance of making greater efforts to instill the twenty-first-century skills in the future graduates of science to enable them to respond to the requirements of the global economic market.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are all Islamic countries with different public policies and attitudes to the presence of other religions. This has major implications for the Hindu community, often seen as consisting of migrant workers, which normally bases its religiosity on highly public, participatory and performative rituals. This chapter focuses on how the diverse Hindu community in Oman negotiates its religious identity in an Islamic country by strategically using its past mercantile relations with the ruling families, creating and participating in transnational networks, as well as imaginatively using public-private spaces to engage in rituals and festivities and overcome state restrictions. It suggests that the Hindu diaspora in Oman can be problematised as being more than just a minority community with few religious freedoms in a conservatively Muslim nation. Focusing on the Hindu community in Oman adds to emerging studies on diaspora and transnational mobilities, de-essentialising the binary relations of the state with its religious minorities in this part of the world.

This study focuses on the multiple ways in which the Hindu community in Oman negotiates its religious identity in an Islamic country by strategically using its historic mercantile relations with the ruling families, maximising the use of public-private spaces, and creating and participating in transnational networks as ways to cope with state restrictions. Using Vertovec’s notion of ‘complexifying complex diasporas,’ this study examines how Hindus, while being publicly ‘invisible,’ have been able to possess a continuing cultural platform which is leveraged to acquire opportunities for religious performance. However, challenges to such strategic belonging have been rising rapidly with the rise of right wing Hindu ideology within and outside India. The repercussions of the establishment of a Hindu state in India on its diaspora, particularly in an officially Muslim country, are rife with challenges. Alternative strategies may have to be explored by the community to assert its identity and religious practices, as well as secure its future in Oman.

‘We sent our sons across the seven rivers and we let them go because we need food, because we don’t have enough. Here, they have no work and we have no land. […] If they were getting their fair share, it would be enough for us. If those [Omani] people were thinking that they have crossed so many rivers out of need, they would help them, but they just don’t think about it.’¹ Except for the extensive work by M.M. Rahman, little research until now has been done, especially of a qualitative nature, on the situation of Bangladeshi migrants in

This book explores how houses are created, maintained and conceptualized in southern Oman. Based on long-term research in the Dhofar region, it draws on anthropology, sociology, urban studies and architectural history. The chapters consider physical and functional aspects, including regulations governing land use, factors in siting houses, architectural styles and norms for interior and exterior decorating. The volume also reflects on cultural expectations regarding how and when rooms are used and issues such as safety, privacy, social connectedness and ease of movement. Houses and residential areas are situated within the fabric of towns, comparison is made with housing in other countries in the Arabian peninsula, and consideration is given to notions of the 'Islamic city' and the 'Islamic house'. The book is valuable reading for scholars interested in the Middle East and the built environment.

Scholarship on the Arab Gulf region often links heritage production with technologies of state pedagogy in its efforts to fix the spatial boundaries of a nation and entrench authoritarian rule. Yet, such a modular explanation ignores pressing questions regarding how statist narratives domesticate heterogeneous populations and regulate social difference. This paper explores the ways in which official accounts of the historical past have interpellated the material traces of diasporic communities, specifically the enclave of a minority community in Oman, the al-Lawati with links to the Sind region of the Indian sub-continent. The Sur al Lawati, a fortified residential enclosure of the Al Lawati community, draws from Gujarati traditional architecture rather than the surrounding Muscat cityscape. The sur (enclosure) has been mobilized as a token of the nation's pluralist history as an Indian Ocean trading power. This is consistent with Oman's expanding culture industry, which since the 1970s has generated history-making practices to sediment a homogenous Arab and general Islamic identity. However, using archival and ethnographic research, I argue that the enclave's material presence has presided over the complexities of a more entangled history in which the boundaries of this community of merchants and retailers have been reconfigured over the course of the 20th century. The very act of incorporating the sur and its residents into the history of a national people is grounded on the one hand in celebrating a cosmopolitan past as a sea-faring nation that traversed the Indian Ocean waters. On the other hand, it is also tethered to a sense of the past shaped by such categories as the "Arab tribe" and a "generic Islam" Both histories become an exercise of selectivity. They involve gaps, disjunctures, and diversity at the core of what passes as a unifying history of a sovereign nation.

This study seeks to analyze the implications of Oman’s participation in the Maritime Silk Road, which is the maritime component of the Belt and Road Initiative, announced in 2013 by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. Sultan Qaboos has transformed Oman from an isolated and backward country to an active political mediator in the region. Oman’s neutral stance and diplomatic connections with every political actor in the region differentiate Oman from the rest of the Gulf countries. Geographically, Oman is situated in the intersection of the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Historically, Oman ruled South Asian and East African coasts, extending its influence. The geographical position and historical legacy make Oman as a key country for the Maritime Silk Road. Thus, participation of Oman in the Belt and Road Initiative is invaluable in the eyes of the Chinese policymakers. Omani policymakers, who want to diversify Oman’s economy, welcome Chinese investments. However, increasing Chinese involvement in Oman’s economy might harm Oman’s sovereignty because of Chinese practice of using debts as exerting pressure on the lending states’ sovereignty. Moreover, the intensified competition between the USA and China in the Indian Ocean could compromise Oman’s neutral stance. Yet, Sultan Qaboos’ legacy is followed by Omani policymakers. While benefiting Chinese economic investments, Oman performs balancing acts against China.

This book marks the first comprehensive examination of contemporary British influence in Oman and Bahrain, analysing Britain's legacy since the official withdrawal from the Gulf in 1971.

The war fought in northern Oman from 1954 until the mid-1960s is almost completely forgotten. Even amongst contemporary military historians, it is considered less frequently than the subsequent – and widely published – Dhofar War. Though ‘small’, it was a conflict of crucial importance for the nation on the southeastern side of the Arab Peninsula.While usually thought to have been fought – and won – exclusively by special forces, capacity building, and training of native forces, a closer look reveals an entirely different picture. The victory and lasting peace were actually secured by a conventional military campaign dominated by offensive operations, followed by an entirely separate civilian development program. The role of special forces was overemphasized – not only in regards of their relative number of operations, but also in regards of their impact – while the insurgency was suppressed by punitive means, and the capacity building remained limited during the war. It was only once offensive operations were completed that the development program contributed to the lasting peace. This peace, in turn, would have been impossible without the conventional military campaign. As such, this ‘small’ conflict proved of crucial importance for the nation on the southeastern side of the Arab Peninsula.The War in Northern Oman provides a detailed account of the political dynamics which led to the eruption of violence, but foremost examines the use of force, the wider conventional military campaign, operations by special forces, military capacity building, and the application of soft power factors for civilian capacity building. Moreover, it emphasizes the process of reconciliation and international engagement. Based on extensive research in official documentation, and including numerous personal testimonies, this volume – richly illustrated by photographs provided by veterans – provides exclusive coverage of one of very few wars in which a grassroots insurgency suffered a clear-cut military defeat.