Dubai 's Authenticity still lives on

A highly contested question during the trip revolved around the question of Dubai’s authenticity. There is no doubt that the industrial and consumerist breeze has hit the once unknown city in the south-east Arabian Peninsula, but is it really all that bad? and what does authenticity mean anyway?
A look back at our history shows a similar, albeit slower, change in the structure of our economic landscape. I am referring to our industrial phases or often referred to as revolutions. They are termed revolutions for a reason and it is because the change we underwent during these eras are not just one dimensional, but are multi faceted. Undoubtedly, the revolution manifested change in the underlying fabrics of our society and culture. We were now exposed to a different environment and for the most of us, day to day activities changed and adapted to this new system. For example, our livelihoods now depended on waged work, rather than farming and relying on ones crops. However, we are not drastically different people as a result of it. To this day, we share values common to those of our predecessors. If we use the argument of authenticity in this context, we are perplexed by this referral as we do not see modernization as a tool that rids us of our heritage. Rather, we view change and “open-mindedness” as central to our societies’ progression and we welcome it. We still manage to find traces of “authentic” Canadian practices (Sugaring off anyone?), but are keen on keeping up with the latest of technologies.
Maybe what we should be asking is, is authenticity valuable in all contexts? Also, is Dubai really all that insincere?
Though we were not exposed to many Emirati people, my experience living in Saudi (and having attended a Saudi school in particular) has shown me how one is able to retain values of the pre-modernized culture all the while living in a new, more technologically and industrially advanced society. Raising the standard of living, and improving mortality rates and access to education should not be viewed as a compromise to ones’ culture or tradition. Marriages and other festivies are more or else done in the same way, as does the food they eat. Clothing attire and behaviour in public is to this day evidently displayed in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE. I will admit that other facets of the culture have changed, but it is not all that bad (as had happened during the post- industrial era), and we should embrace it.