Introduction: Gender, cultural constructions and representations in the Gulf

The ways in which gender and identity are both constructed and represented in the Gulf is an important and underrepresented area of academic inquiry. The essays in this special issue address a gap within the literature by analyzing and interrogating the sociocultural production of gender and identity. The authors of each essay seek to unpack the social, political, and economic structures and discourses that underpin gender identity construction in the Gulf, thus providing a framework from which to recognize the structures of power and the dominant ideologies that operate locally, nationally, regionally, and internationally. In addition, the issue explores how gender and identity intersect within the Gulf to produce distinct modes of cultural representation, both tangible and intangible. The editors and authors are particularly interested in exploring how both masculinity and femininity are constructed and represented in the Gulf region. The discussion of both masculine and feminine constructions and representations is important as it recognizes that these categories are not necessarily discrete but are interconnected and interrelated. It is therefore essential that debates around gender and identity in the Gulf are framed within discussions that give voice to both masculine and feminine cultural constructions and representations. [Opening paragraph]