Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula, a sea of sand (95% of the country is desert) that holds 17% of the world’s petroleum reserves.
Its cities encapsulate the country’s contradictions: ancient souks and ultra-modern skyscrapers, women veiled in abayas but also entering the workforce, petroleum refineries, and sparkling beach resorts.
Cards on the table: Saudi Arabia has an abysmal track record on human rights, with women, LGBTQ+ communities, and journalists the target of discrimination and violence. Women are still legally classified as minors, with male relatives making significant decisions on their behalf. But in the last few years, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — known as MBS — passed laws that lessened some restrictions with Saudi Arabia. And he’s invited the world in: His Vision 2030 plan opened Saudi Arabia to tourism. Road signs and menus now appear in English, Western credit cards are widely accepted, and you can even catch an Uber.
In this episode, we dive into the changing norms in Saudi Arabia, talk about some of the amazing sights that are now open to the Western world, and discuss the ambitious Neom project: a ‘city of the future’ in the desert.
Then we recommend five books that took us to Saudi Arabia on the page, including a murder mystery on the beach of Jeddah, a gripping nonfiction account of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, a cookbook of Arabian Gulf cuisine, a coming-of-age story set in Riyadh, and a Gothic novel based on real-life experiences in Jeddah.
Read the full transcript of Saudi Arabia: Old Ways and New Directions (?)
Perhaps you’d like to listen to some music while you dig into these links.
Women in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Women Are Breaking Free From the Black Abaya. (AMAZING photo on this one!)
Visiting Saudi Arabia
If you only read one article, make it this one from The New York Times. A journalist’s first-person account of traveling in the newly opened country. Surprising, Unsettling, Surreal: Roaming Through Saudi Arabia.
The Best Things to Experience in Saudi Arabia According to the People Who Know It.
Exploring AlUla: Saudi Arabia’s Oasis of Hidden History and Heritage
Statement 1: In Saudi Arabia, there’s an anti-witchcraft crime unit. Saudi Arabia’s War on Witchcraft. ‘A special unit of the religious police pursues magical crime aggressively, and the convicted face death sentences.’
Statement 2: Saudi Arabia imports sand. Aussies Sell Sand to Saudis — and Why The World is Running Out of Sand.
City of Veils by Zoë Ferraris
LA Times article about the author: Envisioning Herself as a Saudi Man.
MBS by Ben Hubbard
Cardamom and Lime: Recipes from the Arabian Gulf by Sarah al-Hamad
A Cultural and Mythological History of Pearling in the Arabian Gulf.
There’s Nothing Quite Like the Musky, Sour Aroma of a Dried Lime.
The Green Bicycle by Haiffa Al Mansour
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel
Essays by Hilary Mantel:
Veiled Threats. ‘Only after she left Saudi Arabia behind could Hilary Mantel address it in fiction.’
Once Upon a Life: Hilary Mantel. ‘For four years, the Booker prize-winner lived in the repressive, claustrophobic kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Until one day in 1986 when she and her husband left Jeddah and rediscovered freedom.’
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