Conservatism versus Modernism: Hesitant Urban Identity in Saudi Arabia
Mashary A. Al-Naim
Dr. Mashary A. Al-Naim,
Associate Professor, King
Faisal University, Vice Rector,
Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd
UniversityWhat do people think about their urban identity and what needs do they identify
themselves with? What role do traditions play in a society, and why do people create
new traditions? Every society has a continuous flow of traditions, changing and taking
on different forms, which are essential for societal survival. As Rapoport states, “for any
group to survive ... there must be continuity at some level.”^1 Traditions, even changing
traditions, offer a certain continuity within a group.
Efforts in Saudi Arabia to maintain a continuity of tradition are strongly linked to the
impact of religion within Saudi culture.^2 These traditions can be linked with what Rapa-
port calls the “cultural core.” He differentiates the cultural core from “peripheral” values,
which are modified according to changes in life circumstances. Unlike these changing
peripheral values, Rapaport argues
that the cultural core continues as
a determining factor in the cre-
ation of individual identity and as a
mechanism by which members of a
group communicate their collective
identity.^3
In this sense, a change in lifestyle
may influence and modify the val-
ues which help people to cope with a new way of living, but those values which enable
people to generate meaning in their built environment will continue in their function.
The continuity of identity of any society stems from these core values.
The strength of these core values depends on the degree of resistance shown by any
society towards change, and the ability of its members to preserve their cultural core.
This is not to say that the existence of these values ensures full continuity of identity,
but rather that they play an essential role in fusing a new identity. As Bloom states, in
a change of life circumstances, “individuals may make new and appropriate identifica-
- A. Rapoport, “Culture and Built Form-A Reconsideration”, in D.G. Saile, ed., Architecture
in Cultural Change, Essays in Build Form and Culture Research (Lawrence, KS: University of
Kansas Press, 1986), pp. 157-175. - S. Hamdan, Social Change in the Saudi Family, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Iowa State
University, Ames, Iowa (1990), p. 149. - Rapoport, “Culture and Built Form-A Reconsideration”, pp. 157-175.
Figure 1: Al-Khalaf Village — Asir