Late in the evening, I followed my friend through a gift market in Al Ain, as she drifted over smooth white tiles between different numbered stalls. Each was bordered with lines of faceless mannequins draped in beautiful abayas, inviting us to linger over the fabric, lace, color, and detail, or step inside the stand to browse racks of abayas on hangers. As we passed each stand, her young son reached out his hand from his little brown kandoora to grasp at the fabric close to the stroller, taking everything in with wide eyes framed by dark straight hair. As I walked, I thought of how these pieces of clothing are laden with meaning, especially as they are worn and styled by women, each with her own stories and histories. Clothing, including abayas, is part of how women style, dress, and fashion their complex identities and sense of belonging in the UAE.
My friend did not respond or acknowledge the voices of the shopkeepers “اختي…اختي شوفي” [Sis… sis, look!], calling her to come and look at the abayas inside. Dressed in a flowing black abaya with subtle geometric gray detailing and a plain shayla and niqab in a matching color, she navigated her stroller around other women, searching for the stall she had seen on TikTok advertising discounted 50 AED abayas. When she slowed to look at the clothing at the right stand, the shopkeeper walked over, speaking in Arabic about the good quality, low prices, and other styles she could see inside. After quietly browsing a few pieces, she turned to me and asked me to inquire about the pricing and sizes. As I began translating into Arabic, the shopkeeper, realizing she did not speak Arabic, reached for different languages, eventually finding that they could communicate in Urdu.
This friend experiences such misidentifications often. Because she wears an abaya, shayla, and niqab when going out, she is perceived as being Arabic speaking and possibly local or Arab. These pieces of clothing are often identified as the national clothing for Emirati women and other Gulf Arab populations. However, she is neither local nor fluent in Arabic. While her husband’s family has been in the UAE for over 40 years and speaks Arabic fluently, she herself has only been in the country for a few years. Still, her clothing is interpreted through a particular system of meaning, shaping the nearly unconscious decisions by these shopkeepers and other strangers to presume she occupies a specific social status and speaks a particular language.
To some, this story may feel ordinary and unremarkable – and in many ways it is. But it’s precisely these everyday moments that deserve close examination. As a cultural anthropologist, I study the ordinary events, like an evening shopping with a friend in a gift market, as a way to understand larger realities that surface and crystalize: the unspoken meanings and social rules of clothing that inform people’s interpretation of a woman in an abaya and niqab.
My doctoral research, supported by the Al Qasimi Foundation’s Doctoral Dissertation Grant, examines how Baloch women in the UAE use clothing as a means to navigate their individual and collective identity and belonging. I am interested not only in the unique histories of these women and their families, but also in the details and diversities of their daily lives, from the ways they support and engage with their families to their preferences in self-styling and fashion.
Within my research, I am interested in challenging how we think about designations of “cultural heritage.” Rather than looking for static styles to point to as “traditional,” my research asks: What is the active role of clothing in the lives of Baloch women in the UAE? How is style being (re)defined and (re)made? I believe in the importance of studying clothing expansively, without falling into generalizations or reducing complex cultural dynamics into rigid images of “tradition” and “culture.” Rather, we can investigate the particular nuances of individual style and fashion influences, while still considering how these fit into larger histories and patterns. Recognizing these active, creative, and social dress practices can better inform heritage policies that acknowledge living, dynamic cultural expressions and Baloch women’s important role in the UAE’s past and present.