United Arab Emirates Embassy donates significant works to ANU

2018 has been declared the Year of Zayed, to mark 100 years since the birth of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This year long initiative will feature a series of events in the UAE and internationally, designed to showcase the impact and legacy of Sheikh Zayed. These events will involve people of all ages, nationalities, faiths and backgrounds.

As part of the Year of Zayed, the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Canberra visited Menzies Library, where they presented the Australian National University with a wonderful collection of books. The gifted titles range across the fields of history, biography, anthropology, language, literature and geography in relation to the UAE.

The collection was donated from the UAE Embassy in conjunction with the Tourism and Cultural Authority Abu Dhabi to University Librarian Roxanne Missingham. The Embassy wanted to ensure the books went to a library with strong ties to the study of Arabic language and culture, to make these important resources available to those who will benefit from them.

“The Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies here at ANU is Australia’s premier location for studies in this field. Students, staff and academics undertaking Arab and Islamic studies will find these texts enormously valuable,” said Roxanne Missingham. “We are very grateful to the United Arab Emirates Embassy for donating these incredible works to the library.”

“Many of the books donated are written in Arabic which will enable scholars, as well as native speakers within the ANU and wider Canberra community, to study the language while also learning about the history, culture and society of the United Arab Emirates.”

Leila Kouatly, Associate Lecturer in the Arabic program of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies also welcomed the donation.

The book titles are listed below, and will be available in the Menzies Library to all readers.

History and biography

• Sheikh Zayed: Life & Times 1918-2004 (English)
• The Origins of Cultural Leadership. A study of Sheikh Zayed's Thought (English)
• UAE History: Stories of pioneers (Arabic) / روايات وذكريات من ماض ي الإمارات
• Sheikh Zayed Life (Illustrated children’s book, Arabic) / نجم السعد الشيخ زايد ثلاثية
• Zayed: the Moral Leader (Arabic) / الأخلاقية الشخصية زايد

Anthropology

• Camels: UAE Rich Heritage (Arabic) / الإماراتي  الإبل في التراث
• UAE Traditional Songs (Arabic) / الأغاني الشعبية
• The Art of Falconry from Arabia Westward: Training and Conditioning Captive-Raised Falcons (Arabic) / في الخليج العربي فن الصيد بالصقور
• UAE Heritage: Ethics, literature and wisdom (Arabic) / الإماراتي والحكمة في الموروث دب
• Between Sips of Coffee (English)
• The Indus: Lost Civilizations (Arabic) / البائدة حضارات السند

Language and literature

• Collection of the Best Poems (Arabic) / أبهى القيفان
• About Ibn Ateeq’s Poetry Works (Arabic) / عتيج الاريج في أشعار ابن
• Ateeq Althahiri Traditional Songs (Arabic) / الشعبي بتلقائية الغناء الظاهري – قصائد عتيق بن روضة
• The Phenomenon of Transposition in UAE Dialects (Arabic) / العربية المتحدة لهجات الإمارات ظاهرة الإبدال في
• Reflections / حكم وأفكار

Geography

• The Ancient History of UAE’s Coasts (Arabic) / القديمة العصور في الإمارات سواحل