Joyriding in Riyadh
Oil, Urbanism, and Road Revolt

Based on four years of fieldwork, Joyriding in Riyadh explores the history and social fabric of Riyadh, and of Saudi Arabia, through youth culture, specifically joyriding.

Pascal Menoret (Author)

9781107641952, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 April 2014

263 pages, 24 b/w illus. 4 maps
22 x 15.3 x 1.4 cm, 0.37 kg

'This is an insightful, important and unique book. It is extremely readable and will be accessible to students of all levels, as well as others inside and outside academia with an interest in the Gulf, urban history and politics, and gender and sexuality in the Middle East.' Michael Farquhar, LSE Middle East Centre Blog (blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec)

Why do young Saudis, night after night, joyride and skid cars on Riyadh's avenues? Who are these 'drifters' who defy public order and private property? What drives their revolt? Based on four years of fieldwork in Riyadh, Pascal Menoret's Joyriding in Riyadh explores the social fabric of the city and connects it to Saudi Arabia's recent history. Car drifting emerged after Riyadh was planned, and oil became the main driver of the economy. For young rural migrants, it was a way to reclaim alienating and threatening urban spaces. For the Saudi state, it jeopardized its most basic operations: managing public spaces and enforcing law and order. A police crackdown soon targeted car drifting, feeding a nation-wide moral panic led by religious activists who framed youth culture as a public issue. This book retraces the politicization of Riyadh youth and shows that, far from being a marginal event, car drifting is embedded in the country's social violence and economic inequality.

1. A night with 'Ajib
2. Repression and fieldwork
3. City of the future
4. The business of development
5. Street terrorism
6. Street politics
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Economic growth [KCG], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]