The Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, in cooperation with the Qatari Ministry of Culture, held a symposium during the 33rd Doha International Book Fair. They hosted Bahraini writer Nader Kadhim and Omani journalist Mohamed Alyahyai on 16 May for the panel titled “The Formation of the Gulf Intellectual”, chaired by Qatari researcher, Abdulrahman Albaker. The symposium was organized to explore the composition of the intellectual class in the Arab Gulf, their role in the development of the region, and their connection to the political and social map, a topic that is often neglected by the Gulf studies research agenda.

Kadhim began by speaking about the formation of the intellectual in the Gulf since the nineteenth century, which he categorized in four stages. From the late eighteenth century until the 1940s, these intellectuals, many of whom would go on to pursue a more modern education in India, received academic training in traditional and religious educational environments. This generation tried to break away from tradition to communicate directly with modern culture and is credited with forming the first institutions that embraced intellectual enlightenment in the Gulf countries. They focused on establishing cultural institutions and reforming society, not on the state. The second stage followed the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, with associations formed by those involved in the armed struggle. Radical intellectuals included poets, musicians, artists, and others, as essential and active cadres in political movements, many of whom spent years in exile. These intellectuals were completely immersed in politics.

In the third stage the Gulf intellectual took one of two routes, according to Kadhim. The first was a retreat into isolationist culture, that is, creating poetry, music, and art for aesthetic purposes alone. The second emerged in the early seventies, with intellectuals forming at the universities established in that period. This academic intellectual, despite an often revolutionary background, later became ­engaged in public affairs through academia. This trend continued until the late nineties. In the final stage presented by Kadhim, a fluid society began to emerge, alongside it the resigned intellectual, at a time when social media gained prominence at the expense of the environments that had previously served as incubators for Gulf intellectuals. Meanwhile the role of the state and state agencies grew to the point that most cultural environments fell under state supervision, with culture subsequently becoming dependent on market value.

Alyahyai followed by arguing for the historical and societal uniqueness of Oman, as the only country where the society takes precedence over the state. He asserted that there are three fundamental elements of cultural development in Oman. The first element is Ibadism, which is not just an Islamic sect, but a political movement at its core based on the principle of rebellion against the centralization of the state, with intellectual and cultural roots at the same time. The second element is geographical, for while it seems from afar that Oman is isolated, after 1650 the country’s fleets began to reach to coasts of Persia and Africa, taking with them Omanis who came into contact with other cultures, and learned the customs of these new peoples. Significantly, this geography has ingrained cultural awareness in the imagination of the Omani intellectual. The final element is the political left, Nasserite Arab nationalism, and the Arab nationalist movement, as many important intellectuals embraced this culture.

Politically, Alyahyai focused on the formation of the first Imamate, in which the intellectuals played a role, especially those associated with Ibadi thought, given it was them who pushed for the creation of the state. The Yarubid state was also established by the intellectuals in 1624, until the modern era where the intellectuals played founding roles. Regarding the relationship of the Gulf intellectual to public affairs, Alyahyai noted that, in the Gulf, the intellectual cannot engage in public affairs in countries where there is no organized political life, as the public space is controlled by the state, and trying to penetrate this space is difficult. From here, the spaces within which an intellectual can work narrowed, and caught between the political and the social.