The image above, from the early 1970s, is a photograph from Al Dwairi’s family archive.

Library Circles is a series of research, talks and experimental interventions by UAE practitioners in the Jameel Library and Jameel Arts Centre. The programme explores alternative research methodologies and representations with a focus on “thinking in public”.

For the Fall iteration of Library Circles, Jameel Library presents a research display by Maysoon Al Dwairi.

The display, which consists of a selection of readings, recollections of oral histories, an annotated archival display and a commissioned text, zeroes in on a crucial moment in the UAE’s history – the development of its education systems. The research looks at the period right before and and after the unification of the Emirates in 1971, grounding these accounts within philosophies of education in the Arab and Muslim worlds. 

A core component of Maysoon’s research centres around the archive collection of Dr. Hamad Al Dwairi, Maysoon’s father, which he amassed during his time as an educator in the UAE. Al Dwairi holds a PHD degree in Comparative Education & Educational Administration from Ain Shams University in Cairo, and now resides in his home country of Jordan.

Click here to read Al Dwairi’s commissioned text in Arabic titled Narratives of Education: Between Trucial States and United Arab Emirates.

Maysoon Al Dwairi

Maysoon Al Dwairi is currently an Education Evaluator at the Ministry of Culture. She has worked as a school teacher and head teacher across various schools in the UAE.

Following her experience in schools, she moved onto consulting work with several organisations including Gems Education Group as a Senior Consultant, BBJ Consulting, Hamdan Award Foundation, Educational Development Trust and Abu Dhabi University.

Dwairi holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Deakin University (Australia); an MA in Educational Studies from the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai; and a Diploma in Curriculum Design and Development for Arab States from UNESCO (HBMSU).