Vol. 4, Issue 1, Part A (2022)

This paper attempts to address and unravel the Arab feminist culture effectuated by Americanization, as presented in Ameera Al Hakawati’s Desperate in Dubai. The instantaneous engagement of Arab women with social media platforms have hybridized their cultural and social instincts and that too sometimes makes them vulnerable in their indigenous society. This work explores Hakawati’s manner of dealing with modern lifestyle, relationships and anxieties that presents a substitute for an American lifestyle in Arabia, particularly in Dubai. America as an empire became a kind of mediator and propagator of a new global order in world politics, economy and culture. This ‘American’ culture as a global order structure a process called ‘Americanization’, which simply means following the American ideals. In western societies, Arab women are mostly shown as traditional and subjugated which humanize their characters, on the contrary, this work exposes the Arab women’s sensibilities and aptitude in a realm that resembles the western culture in day-to-day lives. Further, this paper, examines the cultural landscape and experiences of the characters that lead to heightened consciousness in redefining their identity. Hence, by reinterpreting and reinventing the identities and symbols of Americanization, the evolution of modern Arab women is represented through the premise of a city, in other words, metaphorization of Dubai as a symbol of emancipation of womens’ identity. Therefore, by implementing a post-positivist approach, this paper aims to examine the city of Dubai as a personification of a young Arab women under the ideals of Americanization in the characters of Ameera Al Hakawati’s Desperate in Dubai.