ENHG Lecture February 16: The Liwa – as it was in the Past, with Dr. Frauke Heard-Bey

**Kindly note that the lecture will take place on Zoom. A link will be sent to all those registered prior to the talk. You are welcome to sign in as of 7:00 pm for an informal discussion with fellow members, and the talk will begin at 7:30.**

About the Talk: When a comprehensive geographical and historical work, Lorimer’s “Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia” was being published by the Government of India, it was doubted that a place named Liwa or Jiwa really existed. 

The Liwa is where the Bani Yas, a confederation of tribes, had found water and decided to develop this spread-out string of many dozens of wells in the central region for their semi-settled way of life. Historically, the Liwa became the social, economic and political heart for the Bani Yas and for some other tribes, long before the island, the town and the state were named Abu Dhabi.

In this talk, the mystery around this area is peeled back, while the Liwa and its inhabitants play an increasing role in the life of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. 

About the Speaker: Frauke Heard-Bey studied history and political science in Heidelberg and Berlin. She received her Ph.D. from the Freie Universität of West Berlin in 1967 and followed her husband David to Abu Dhabi in the same year. In 1969 Frauke joined the Centre for Documentation and Research in Abu Dhabi, part of the Presidential Court in the Qasr Al Hosn. The Centre specialized in collecting archival material about the Gulf. Frauke was with the Centre for 39 years, while it moved to a purpose-built place, but before the institution became the National Archive in 2014. 

Frauke has published extensively in English and German. Her book From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates: A Society in Transition has become a university textbook, and her latest book, Abu Dhabi, The United Arab Emirates and the Gulf: Fifty Years of Transformation (2016) contains a collection of 30 articles, conference contributions and autobiographical notes. It is available from Gerlach Press in Berlin and Amazon. 

Frauke was honoured with the Abu Dhabi Award in 2007.