ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we explore the interface between the local culture and Western forces with a focus on the implications on the cultural landscape of sport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While the UAE has invested significantly in Western sport, we examine the praxis of sport in the region focussing on how global sporting events that are held in the country are utilised for political and economic stability, while also acknowledging the local sporting structures and their development. To achieve this aim, this chapter utilises traditional ethnography and virtual ethnographic methods to provide an understanding of the diffusion of sport in the UAE, the ruling families’ interests, and the tensions and conflicts that have arisen in the Emirates in pursuit of developing its sporting structures.
