Steffen Wippel (Ed.)
Regionalizing
Oman: Political, Economic and Social Dynamics.
United Nations
University Series on Regionalism 6. Springer, Dordrecht/Heidelberg et al.,
2013, xi + 351 S.
This volume addresses the historical structures and current dynamics of
Oman’s regionalization processes and their political, economic and social
dimensions. It is based on an interdisciplinary and trans-regional dialogue
between scholars from different social sciences and area studies such as
political science, economics, management, economic and social geography,
history, social anthropology and linguistics as well as Middle East/West Asian,
Gulf and African studies, and develops four major axes of research:
- Oman’s integration into global and regional flows of goods, capital,
people and ideas;
- The multi-scaled political negotiation of such integration (or
disintegration) processes;
- Consequences of suchlike processes and forms of regionalization for
(translocal) actors;
- Ideas and strategic communication of regional belonging and the constitution
of regions.
Each chapter deals with one or more of these issues. Part I deals with
concepts of regionalisation and region-building and presents different
approaches that accentuate certain dimensions of these processes and come from
different disciplinary backgrounds. Part II focuses on the translocal,
transnational and (trans)regional movement of people, their practices and
imaginations, be they contemporary labour in- and out-migrants, returnees from
Eastern Africa or nomadic tribal members. Part III takes a closer look
particularly at economic issues and regionalisation processes that are mainly
based on multiple trade links, regional development policies or politics of
regionalism. Part IV analyses political and socio-cultural issues in regional
and global perspectives.
Contents
Preface v
Fred Scholz
1 “Regionalizing Oman”: A New
Interest of Research on Oman and Its Spatial Dimensions
1
Steffen Wippel
Part I
Concepts of Regionalisation and Region-Building
2 Conceptual Considerations of
“Space” and “Region”: Political, Economic and Social Dynamics of
Region-Building 21
Steffen Wippel
3 Theorizing Regionalism(s): When
“Regions” Emerge and Interact 43
Ulrike Lorenz-Carl and Frank Mattheis
4 Working with “Translocality”:
Conceptual Implications and Analytical Consequences 63
Katrin Bromber
Part II
The Translocal, Transnational and Transregional Movement of People
5 “We Are Part of Zanzibar” –
Translocal Practices and Imaginative Geographies in Contemporary Oman-Zanzibar
Relations 75
Julia Verne and Detlef Müller-Mahn
6 Of Red Cells, Translocality and
Origins: Inherited Blood Disorders in Oman 91
Claire Beaudevin
7 Oman-India Relations: Exploring the Long-
Term Migration Dynamics 107
Samir Pradhan
8 Negotiating Authenticity and Translocality
in Oman: The “Desertscapes” of the Harasiis Tribe 129
Dawn Chatty
Part III
Micro and Macro Regionalisation Through Economic Practices
9 Re-reading the Role of Oman Within
Its International Trade Relations: From the Sixteenth Through to the Nineteenth
Centuries 149
Beatrice Nicolini
10 Oman and the Indian Ocean Rim –
Economic Integration Across Conventional Meta-Regions
159
Steffen Wippel
11 Oman Caught Between the GCC
Customs Union and Bilateral Free Trade with the US: Is It Worth Breaking the
Rules? 185
Anja Zorob
12 Musandam and Its Trade with Iran.
Regional Linkages Across the Strait of Hormuz 205
Michael Benz
13 Is Littoralization Reconfi guring
the Omani Territory? 217
Belgacem Mokhtar
14 The Impact of Shopping Malls on
Traditional Retail Stores in Muscat. Case Study of Al-Seeb Wilayat 227
Montasser I.M. Abdelghani
Part IV
State and Society in Regional and Global Perspectives
15 Private Documents as a Source for
Regional History: The Archive of the ‘Abrîyîn of Al-Hamrâ’
251
Michaela Hoffmann-Ruf
16 Domesticating Local Elites.
Sheikhs, Walis and State-Building Under Sultan Qaboos 267
Marc Valeri
17 Musandam: Creating a New Region
Across the Water 279
Gulshan Dietl
18 The Political Economy of
Internationalization and Privatization of Higher Education in the Sultanate of
Oman 289
Torsten Brandenburg
19 Bringing the Global and the Local
Together Through English in Oman 305
Rahma Ibrahim Al-Mahrooqi and Victoria
Tuzlukova
Part V
Conclusion
20 Concluding Remarks: Regionalizing
Oman Beyond Conventional Metageographies 321
Steffen Wippel
Author Bios 333
Index
341
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