ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on developments that have emerged in the Arab Gulf states. It argues that because of the particular values and meanings ascribed to heritage in the region, distinctive models of practice have emerged. Two case studies are explained which illustrates the types of heritage consumption in the region: the Liwa Date Festival, an increasingly popular annual event, and the Million's Poet' reality TV show, a regional phenomenon and one of the world's most successful cultural television programmes. The chapter focuses on Emirati nationals, who now form the minority of the population in the UAE in 2010 the percentage of Emiratis was approximately 11.5 per cent of the total population. To understand the emphasis on intangible and dynamic experiences of cultural heritage in the UAE it is helpful to look at the Arabic words for culture and heritage which reveal how flexible the Arabic notion of these concepts is favouring the intangible over the material.
