Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics
Research Article
2026, 10(2), Article No: 26

Seeing and being seen: Intersectional ecofeminism, methodological insights, and women’s embodied experiences with nature in the UAE

Published in Volume 10 Issue 2: 27 Aug 2026
Download: 0
View: 3

Abstract

This article is a reflexive piece that draws on the methodological application of intersectionality in understanding women’s material relationship with nature in the highly urbanised context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Drawing on situated knowledge and the deconstruction of binaries, such as nature/culture and green/desert, the article emphasises the importance of attending to embodied ways of knowing. Feminist research practices are adopted to explore what it means to be both subjected to the gaze and a constructor of the gaze, investigating the various perspectives that emerge when women guide the gaze. The article draws on a subset of four qualitative semi-structured interviews selected from a broader sample of 18 interviews conducted with young adult and middle-aged Emirati women. This article aims to discuss the value of integrating feminist thinking into studies of women and landscape, while also highlighting how situated and grounded experiences can contribute to and expand on existing theoretical feminist concepts. This piece contributes to contextualising methodological approaches to the application of intersectionality and ecofeminist theory into a non-Western, highly urbanised setting, and advocates towards a more nuanced and situated ecofeminism
  • Abu-Lughod, L. (1998). Remaking women: Feminism and modernity in the Middle East. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt7sck7
  • Abu-Lughod, L. (2001). “Orientalism” and Middle East feminist studies. Feminist Studies, 27(1), 101–113. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178451
  • Agarwal, B. (1992). The gender and environment debate: Lessons from India. Feminist Studies, 18(1), 119–158. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178217
  • Al Oraimi, S. Z. (2011). The concept of gender in Emirati culture: An analytical study of the role of the state in redefining gender and social roles. Museum International, 63(3–4), 78–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/muse.12009
  • AlMutawa, R. (2016). Awareness of Emirati women’s economic roles before the oil boom: Changing perceptions of gender roles? Inquiries Journal, 8(10). http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1456
  • AlMutawa, R. (2020). “I want to be a leader, but men are better than women in leadership positions”: State feminism and legitimizing myths in the United Arab Emirates. Hawwa, 18(1), 31–50. https://doi.org/10.1163/15692086-12341369
  • AlMutawa, R. (2022). Navigating the cosmopolitan city: Emirati women and ambivalent forms of belonging in Dubai. In A. Bouzas & L. Casini (Eds.), Migration in the making of the Gulf space: Social, political, and cultural dimensions (pp. 67–85). Berghahn Books.
  • Al-Sayegh, F. (2001). Women and economic changes in the Arab Gulf: The case of the United Arab Emirates. Digest of Middle East Studies, 10(2), 17–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-3606.2001.tb00419.x
  • Andraos, A. (2007). Dubai’s island urbanism: An archipelago of difference for the 21st century? In S. Basar (Ed.), Cities from zero(pp. 47–56). Architectural Association Publishing.
  • Bolleter, J. (2009). Para-scape: Landscape architecture in Dubai. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 4(1), 28–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/18626033.2009.9723411
  • Bolleter, J. (2015). Charting the potential of landscape urbanism in Dubai. Landscape Research, 40(5), 621–642. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2014.967189
  • Bristol-Rhys, J. (2010). Emirati women: Generations of change. Hurst Publishers.
  • Brookes, J. (1987). Gardens of paradise: The history and design of the great Islamic gardens. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
  • Dando, C. E. (2007). Kaleidoscope eyes: Geography, gender, and the media. Geography and Geology Faculty Publications, 11. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/geoggeolfacpub/11
  • Doherty, G. (2017). Paradoxes of green: Landscapes of a city-state. University of California Press.
  • Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre. (n.d.). UAE population by gender, 2000–2024. Retrieved March 24, 2025. https://fcsc.gov.ae/
  • Gaard, G. (2011). Ecofeminism revisited: Rejecting essentialism and re-placing species in a material feminist environmentalism. Feminist Formations, 23(2), 26–53. https://doi.org/10.1353/ff.2011.0017
  • Garcia Ramon, M. D., & Monk, J. (2007). Gender and geography: World views and practices. Belgeo, 3, 247–260. https://doi.org/10.4000/belgeo.11162
  • Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066
  • Heard-Bey, F. (2021). Historical perspectives of the life of women in the United Arab Emirates. Asian Affairs, 52(3), 601–637. https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2021.1950416
  • Kabbani, R. (1986). Europe’s myths of the orient: Devise and rule. Macmillan.
  • Kanna, A., Le Renard, A., & Vora, N. (2020). Beyond exception: New interpretations of the Arabian Peninsula. Cornell University Press.
  • Kings, A. E. (2017). Intersectionality and the changing face of ecofeminism. Ethics and the Environment, 22(1), 63–87. https://doi.org/10.2979/ethicsenviro.22.1.04
  • Le Renard, A. (2014). A society of young women: Opportunities of place, power, and reform in Saudi Arabia. Stanford University Press.
  • Mahmood, S. (2004). Politics of piety: The Islamic revival and the feminist subject. Princeton University Press.
  • Mhmood, F. (2021). The unspoken narratives of the empty quarter (Publication No. 2021.28540728) [Master’s thesis, Harvard University].
  • Mhmood, F., & Sunikka-Blank, M. (2025). Where’s nature?: Women’s narratives of public and private landscapes in the UAE. Gender, Place & Culture, 32(6), 938–959. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2024.2372589
  • Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. (2024). Employing Emiratis in the private sector. https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/jobs/employment-in-the-private-sector/emiratis-employment-in-private-sector?utm_
  • Mulvey, L. (1989). Visual and other pleasures. Indiana University Press.
  • Narayan, K. (1993). How native is a “native” anthropologist? American Anthropologist, 95(3), 671–686. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1993.95.3.02a00070
  • Ouis, P. (2002). Greening the Emirates: The modern construction of nature in the United Arab Emirates. Cultural Geographies, 9(3), 334–347. https://doi.org/10.1191/1474474002eu252oa
  • Reichenbach, A. (2015). Gazes that matter: Young Emirati women’s spatial practices in Dubai. Urban Anthropology, 44(1–2), 113–195. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24643138
  • Rose, G. (1993). Feminism and geography: The limits of geographical knowledge. Polity Press.
  • Shohat, E. (1991). Gender and culture of empire: Toward a feminist ethnography of the cinema. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 13(1–3), 45–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509209109361370
  • Sinha, R., Lehmann, K., & Djankov, S. (2023). The sudden surge in gender legal reform in the UAE (Discussion Paper No. 889). London School of Economics, Financial Markets Group. https://www.fmg.ac.uk/ sites/default/files/2023-10/DP889.pdf.pdf
  • Sonbol, A. (2012). Gulf women. Bloomsbury.
  • Thomas, B. (1932). Arabia Felix: Across the empty quarter of Arabia. Jonathan Cape LTD. https://ignca.gov.in/ Asi_data/10621.pdf
APA 7th edition
In-text citation: (Mhmood, 2026)
Reference: Mhmood, F. (2026). Seeing and being seen: Intersectional ecofeminism, methodological insights, and women’s embodied experiences with nature in the UAE. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 10(2), Article 26. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19074
AMA 10th edition
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Mhmood F. Seeing and being seen: Intersectional ecofeminism, methodological insights, and women’s embodied experiences with nature in the UAE. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 2026;10(2), 26. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19074
Chicago
In-text citation: (Mhmood, 2026)
Reference: Mhmood, Fatma. "Seeing and being seen: Intersectional ecofeminism, methodological insights, and women’s embodied experiences with nature in the UAE". Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics 2026 10 no. 2 (2026): 26. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19074
Harvard
In-text citation: (Mhmood, 2026)
Reference: Mhmood, F. (2026). Seeing and being seen: Intersectional ecofeminism, methodological insights, and women’s embodied experiences with nature in the UAE. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 10(2), 26. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19074
MLA
In-text citation: (Mhmood, 2026)
Reference: Mhmood, Fatma "Seeing and being seen: Intersectional ecofeminism, methodological insights, and women’s embodied experiences with nature in the UAE". Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, vol. 10, no. 2, 2026, 26. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19074
Vancouver
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Mhmood F. Seeing and being seen: Intersectional ecofeminism, methodological insights, and women’s embodied experiences with nature in the UAE. Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics. 2026;10(2):26. https://doi.org/10.20897/femenc/19074
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Submit My Manuscript



Phone: +31 (0)70 2190600 | E-Mail: info@lectitojournals.com

Address: Cultura Building (3rd Floor) Wassenaarseweg 20 2596CH The Hague THE NETHERLANDS

Disclaimer

This site is protected by copyright law. This site is destined for the personal or internal use of our clients and business associates, whereby it is not permitted to copy the site in any other way than by downloading it and looking at it on a single computer, and/or by printing a single hard-copy. Without previous written permission from Lectito BV, this site may not be copied, passed on, or made available on a network in any other manner.

Content Alert

Copyright © 2015-2026 LEUKOS BV All rights reserved.