About Matthew

Matthew MacLean was a Research Assistant in the Humanities Research Fellowship Program in academic year 2014-15. He spent his fourth year in the Joint Program in History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at NYUAD.

His dissertation research is on the spatial transformation of the Trucial States and the United Arab Emirates in the second half of the twentieth century, in particular how the development of the UAE's infrastructure (particularly housing, roads, and ports) made possible the emergence of Emirati national identity. He pays special attention to the emergence of the UAE state and aims to place Emirati history in its wider regional and global contexts. He was a Fulbright student in the UAE in 2006-07 at Zayed University in Dubai while completing his MA thesis on US foreign policy in the Gulf in the 1970s.

One of his favorite activities is exploring the rural areas of the UAE, especially in Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. Before entering graduate school, he taught history at the high school level in Brooklyn, NY, for eight years.