Akkasah aims to establish a photographic collection at NYU Abu Dhabi drawn from the Arab world and with a special focus on histories of the UAE. Photography has an especially important role to play in recording the rapid transformation and social diversity of the UAE. There are many collections of photographs, private and corporate, Emirati and non-Emirati, that provide invaluable insights into the UAE’s past. Akkasah will seek to preserve such collections (in either digital or analog form), create for them narrative contexts based on oral interviews and historical research, and make them available via a website for scholarly and general consultation. Akkasah also intends to commission new work. The archive is governed by the scholarly and ethical codes that define the educational mission of the University; the advanced technical resources and professional expertise of both New York University and New York University Abu Dhabi are at the disposal of the archive.