How a British-American expat plugs cultural gap in UAE

'Max of Arabia' works to get Emiratis and foreigners more interested in each other.

For many expats in the UAE, Emiratis remain a bit of a mystery, often seen but seldom spoken to outside of their workplaces, and in many cases, not even there. But British-American expat Max Stanton is on a mission to change that by getting locals and foreigners more interested in each other.
His main tool to do that is social media and he has developed an enormous following that earned him the nickname "Max of Arabia".
Stanton, 27, first came to the UAE in 2007 to study marketing at the American University of Sharjah, after a globe-trotting early life with his teacher parents spent in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Yemen, England, and even a Navajo Indian Reservation in the US.
"I graduated high school in Yemen, so I wanted to be somewhere in the Middle East and was looking for somewhere with a good university, and I came across AUS," Stanton told the Khaleej Times. "I had come to the UAE before on a vacation, so I thought why not."
"After graduation I never planned on living in the UAE. I thought I'd come here and get a good education, but I never thought of it as a destination," he added. "But I've been here four years since then. There's nowhere else I want to be. I feel more at home here than anywhere else."
Following graduation, Stanton spent four years in the corporate world working at Proctor and Gamble, an American multinational, but has since left the office world to dedicate his time to shining a spotlight on Arab and Emirati culture.
"I felt that there are some things that anybody can do if they are qualified, and there some things only specific people can do," he said. "Anybody with my brain can do what I was doing at P&G, but specifically I felt that I could do cultural outreach and get expats more excited about Arabic culture and Arabic language, and at the same time get Arabs more excited about their culture."
Stanton added that being a non-Arab foreigner often is a helpful tool in promoting Emirati culture.
"Living in UAE, even as an Emirati Arab, you're surrounded by people who aren't Emiratis," he noted. "It's very easy to drift away from the more traditional. But to me, the traditional is beautiful. Seeing someone who sort of doesn't belong, and seeing them so interested and passionate about the culture might drum up more interest."
"That's more valuable to me than getting a steady paycheck," he added.
Now, Stanton has become somewhat of a sensation in the UAE, and can often be seen at Emirati cultural events and Arabic-language television stations. He has developed an enormous social media following. His Instagram account, for example, has over 482,000 followers, many of them attracted by his video messages spoken in near-flawless Emirati Arabic.
"It's just practice. I was blessed enough that even though my university was in English, I had a lot of Khaleeji friends," he explained. "I never took lessons or anything, but I spent 99 per cent of my time with Arabic speakers."
Bridging the gap
With regards to "bridging the gap" between Emiratis and expats, Stanton recommends that they meet through shared interests. "Emiratis are the most welcoming, friendly, genuine people in the world, but there is obviously a very large but invisible divide between them and expatriates..both are bit weary of approaching the others," he said. "As soon as there is any reason to cross, amazing friendships are formed. The easiest way is through a shared passion, whether it be classic cars, or going to the desert, or anything."
Stanton also noted that common foreign misconceptions of Arabs - often reflected in the Western media - would be easily solved if more foreigners came to visit the region.
"They (Arabs) are almost always portrayed in the wrong way," he said, explaining that coverage tended to focus on geopolitics and national security. "In general, I don't know (how to solve that). There are so many beautiful things about Arabs and about the culture, and for my part I try showcasing that. That's anywhere. I feel more safe in the Middle East than I did in the US."
"For people outside the Arab world, the bridge that they need is that they need to visit," he added.
When asked what National Day means to him, Stanton responded without hesitation.
"To me, it's about being a family," he said. "National Day is not just about the Emiratis. Everybody celebrates it. The UAE is kind of like a tapestry and everybody is woven together and intertwined to make the UAE what it is."
bernd@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE