How does the study of Oman contribute to historiographical debates in the region and beyond? Thanks to a geography connecting the Middle East, South Asia, and East Africa, Oman offers a productive case study to address questions of trade, empire, diversity, and environmental history, going beyond area studies and informing historians of all specializations. Previous interventions have proven fundamental to advance the fields of maritime history, rentier state theory, state building and development, heritage, and international relations. However, there is a notable absence of social histories that address the complexity of Omani society from the bottom up. In this session, by focusing on nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century Oman, the panelists will utilize innovative methodologies and source material to explore questions of worldmaking, nation building, economic transformation, and the management of difference in an extraordinarily diverse society.

Throughout the twentieth century, Oman witnessed the fragmentation of its Indian Ocean empire, moved towards isolation, faced severe internal conflict, and connected scattered populations under one banner while developing a rentier economy based on oil. In the twenty-first, the country handled the succession of its longtime leader, Sultan Qaboos bin Said (r. 1970-2020), as well as several waves of popular protest caused by worsening living conditions, especially for younger generations. The Sultanate is currently introducing reforms to create quality jobs for this segment of the population, moving towards economic diversification, private sector growth, and transitioning from oil dependency to green energy. In this sense, Oman is at the forefront of crucial debates about energy transition, the role of China in the world, and the incorporation of data-driven technologies in governance.

The contributions that make up this panel will analyze a series of problems that bring up social history in Oman to the forefront of historical interventions in the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian Ocean. Exploring agricultural development and grassroots initiatives for education during the times of Sultan Taimur, as two of the presentations do, questions a narrative that draws an artificially rigid line between development in Oman before and after Sultan Qaboos. Another paper problematizes the idea of Oman as a plural society by looking at how urban development in the 1970s and after reinforced intra-communal links in spite of an open public space. A fourth contribution examines how Sultan Qaboos’ speeches and public image shaped his figure as a unifying symbol of the Omani nation, also interrogating how his successor, Sultan Haitham, has drawn on this legacy to solidify his own position.

With these contributions, the four panelists not only problematize central questions in the historiography of Oman and the Arabian Peninsula, but also address wider problems in the discipline about narratives of history in relation to nation making, economic and social development from below, or the use of space to design communities in the urban sphere.