ABSTRACT
Yousif al-Dhuhoori’s family home is located in the Hai Shamali neighbourhood of Dibba al-Hosn, an exclave of Sharjah in the far northeast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), just a few streets away from the border with the Omani province of Musandam. Before al-Ittihad (the union, i.e. the foundation of the UAE) Yousif’s family migrated seasonally, living on the east coast of Musandam (now part of Oman) in winter and in Dibba in summer. As the region modernized in the mid-twentieth century, seasonal migrations ended and Yousif’s family eventually settled in Dibba al-Hosn, in what would become the UAE. Their home built of areesh (palm fronds) was lost in a re around 1975, and many of the farms that once dominated Dibba al-Hosn’s landscape (including one owned by Yousif’s family) have been ploughed under for the development of modern homes, but the family still lives less than half a kilometre away from their old home. The streets of Hai Shamali are narrow and it is rare that any visitor would nd the way from Dibba’s main roads into the back streets of Yousif’s neighbourhood. The homes are tightly packed together, and Yousif has to park his car around the corner from the front gate of the house so as not to block the road.
