June 27, 2016· 21 min

34: The Highway Built by Oil Markets and Political Intrigue

Matthew MacLean

Orality

Model

91%

Highly oral (epic poetry, sermons, hip-hop)

Speaker Breakdown

HostTracy Alloway(581 words)

M:29%

HostJoe Weisenthal(457 words)

M:29%

GuestMatthew MacLean(2,640 words)

M:26%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic24%

very, huge, obviously

Engagement42%

you, our, your

Memory Aids100%

listen, so, like

Repetition100%

road (36x), people (28x), know (26x)

Parallelism98%

So have you heard the story ab..., And I'm Joe Weisenthal, managi..., So, Joe, I have a, special tre...

Sound Patterns43%

17 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"

Formulaic Phrases5%

i mean

Literate Indicators

Hedging16%

might, fairly, could

Passive Voice15%

was called, was signed, was even

Abstract Nouns29%

investment, prescription, medication

Subordination15%

because, nevertheless, until

Sentence Length42%

Avg: 15.6 words/sentence

Word Complexity47%

investment, analyze, anticipate

Academic Markers0%

Impersonal Style58%

166 personal pronouns found

Descriptive Style83%

automatically, family, essentially

Description

On this week's episode we take a trip down one particular road on the Gulf peninsula to explore how sudden market shocks — and the political discord that sometimes comes with them — can help shape the physical space around us. In the 1960s, the Middle East was in the throws of massive change as the oil boom sent some economies skyrocketing and left others in the (literal) dust. The construction of the E11 highway in the Trucial States — which would later grow into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — became a lightning rod for political intrigue and developmental subterfuge involving British interests and the Arab League at a time of mass economic upheaval. Today the highway stretches across the UAE and links its two biggest cities, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Matthew MacLean is a Ph.D. Candidate in History and Middle Eastern Studies at New York University. He joins us to discuss the building of one of the UAE's first paved roads and the rise of the country's car culture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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