The New York Times has another installment of their ‘Generation Faithful‘ series on youth in the Middle East. This edition focuses on Dubai, a city that “has everything money can buy, but it does not have a unifying culture or identity.” Dubai in its current form is a young city; the UAE came into being in 1971. Michael Slackman, the author, doesn't really discuss this.
All of the GenFaith pieces follow a format wherein they follow around a single young man, group of friends, or pair of people and from their draw conjectures about the youth of a country or race (Arab). This makes for good writing but probably weak cultural analysis. This one, “Young and Arab in a Land of Mosques and Bars,” stars Rami Galal, an Egyptian working construction in Dubai; its conclusion seems to be that while Mr. Galal has made sacrifices in coming to Dubai, he has ultimately gained social mobility, at least in theory. In Dubai, unlike Egypt, he can advance through his work; it is not glamorous but he has opportunity.