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QATAR
Barbie in Qatar
By Jheri St. James
Twin Towers and Sand Teapot in Doha
“I
live and work in Qatar from mid-Aug. to mid-June. I am a teacher
at the American School of Doha. I would be happy to collect
the soil for you if you can send the container to me.” (Monday,
August 8, 2005)
The
little empty carton travels from Lake Forest, California
through Cincinnati Ohio, New York, New York, and Manama,
Bahrain, to Doha, Qatar. “So
far I have not received the package. Did you address it to
the school? Perhaps it is slow in making its way to me. I
will let you know of my receipt of the
package, as well as when I send it off via DHL back to you. Is there any urgency
for you to receive the package soon? If not, I can take a drive sometime in
the next two weeks to a peculiar sand beach to collect the sample. Otherwise
I can
collect some generic soil from here in town . . . Within two weeks I will be
able to drive to one of my favorite windsurfing beaches that is near an abandoned
fishing village. I will sample the sand there and obtain some dig photos of
the site for your use,” writes Dave.
Gary
replies: “Dave,
we love digital photos for the journal section at the website. Soil
from a location with history is great.”
Time
passes.
Dave
Schrall picks up the dirt from Al Wakra Beach near the historical
fishing and pearl diving town and puts
it
in the box. (September 3,
2005) That little
box of soil begins its return journey to Laguna Beach, CA on September
13, 2005 in the DHL facility at 8:19 p.m. from Doha,
Qatar, and ends on September
16th
at 8:24 a.m. in Hawthorne, California, USA, having transited Manama,
Bahrain, London, United Kingdom, and New York, New York
in two and a half days.
And
so goes the process of the Common Ground 191 project: one
little box of sand, carrying within
it intrinsic stories
of place, people, history—to become
part of Gary Simpson’s vision of one, unified earth, unlike
any other ever created. This artistic melding of the soils of the
planet
is a contrived unity,
to be sure, a symbolic unity—but unity. Swift transit of ancient
soils; the art project grows slowly but inexorably.
*
* *
Qatar’s story is one of time and timelessness, like
many of the ancient lands of the Persian Gulf region. Qatar
is a peninsula located in the Middle
East, slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut, and bordering
the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia. Mostly flat and barren
desert, covered with
loose sand
and gravel, the traditional monarchy known as the State of Qatar
ratified its constitution on the 29th of April 2003; endorsed
by the Emir on June
9, 2004,
it came into force on June 9, 2005.
Old Qatar (Dervish)
Ruled
by the Al Thani family since the mid-1800’s, Qatar
transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted
mainly for pearling into an independent
state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. After
being dominated by Persians for thousands of years and
recently by
Bahrain, the Ottoman Turks and
the British, Qatar became an independent state on September
3, 1971. During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s
the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning
off of
petroleum revenues by the amir, who had
ruled the
country since 1972. His son, the current Amir Hamad bin Khalifa
al Thani, overthrew him in a bloodless coup in 1995. Qatar
subsequently resolved
its longstanding
border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Oil
and natural gas revenues enable Qatar to have one of the
highest
per capital incomes in the world. This tiny nation, which
looks
like a 100-mile
out-thrust
thumb hitchhiking on the huge Saudi Arabian continent,
has achieved
its own separate identity and personality, even though
95 percent of its people
are
Muslim, and
Arabic is the official language; with Arabs making up 40%,
Pakistani 18%, Indian 18% and Iranian 10% and other nationalities
10% of
the population.
Qatar
is governed explicitly under Wahhabi law and the vast majority
of its citizens follow this specific
Islamic
doctrine.
Muhammad
ibn Abd al-Wahhab
was the founder
of Wahhabism, a puritanical version of Islam which takes
a literal interpretation of the Koran and Sunna. In the
18th
century, Abd
Al-Wahhab forged authority
with the Saudi Arabian al-Saud family and purged the “idolatrous” practices
of Sufis and Shiite from the kingdom. Wahhabi Islam was
imported from Saudi Arabia to Qatar in the early 20th
century when the
Al-Thanis realized that
converting
to the doctrine of their larger neighbor might bode well
for regime survival. Perhaps as an effect of the importation,
Wahhabism
is not as strictly enforced
in Qatar as in Saudi Arabia though it still governs a
large portion of Qatari mores and rituals. For example,
almost
all Qatari women wear the
black abaya as in Saudi Arabia, however the style is not ubiquitously
imposed on foreigners. Although
the peninsular landmass that makes up Qatar has sustained
human development for
thousands of years,
for
the bulk of its
history the arid
climate fostered
only short-term settlements by nomadic tribes. Bearing
tribal monikers such as the Al Khalifa and the al Said,
that would later
descend
upon the thrones
of
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively, these clans
swept through the Arabain peninsula and camped on the costs
within small fishing
and
pearling villages.
The clans battled each other for lucrative oyster beds
and lands, frequently forming and breaking coalitions
with one another in
Wild Camels and Sand Dunes in Empty Southeast Quarter of
Qatar Jarayan Al Batmah
efforts
for territorial supremacy. In the 1920’s and 1930’s
Japanese cultured pearls entered the world market and Qatar’s
pearling industry faltered. It was the discovery of oil, beginning
in the 1940’s, that completely transformed the nation’s
economy. Now the country has a high standard of living, with
many social services offered to its citizens and all the amenities
of any modern nation. Even Qatar’s flag has a feeling
of forward motion, two-thirds red on the right, and one-third
white
on the left, a zigzagging line between the two colors giving
a feeling of zooming full steam ahead.
The Pearl Statue, Doha
*
* * For
on-location commentary on Qatar, http://qatari.blogspot.com revealed some interesting facets of life in this old/new
country. The online journal posted by Dervish entitled “Life
in Exile: The Life and Times of an American Family in Qatar” narrated
the reactions of Mr. Dervish and his family in their sometimes
frustrating and sometimes amusing adventure. He says in “About
Me” “Dervish is a deadhead who studies fiqh.”*
Fulla Dolls
One
of the observations he made regarded the dolls for sale in Qatar
as compared to
those in the West. “Fulla came
about as a result of dissatisfaction with Barbie, and the values,
or even the mindset, that she represents. To someone living here,
Barbie isn’t considered an adequate role model for little
girls. She represents much of what is thought to be wrong with
modern culture and society. The problem stems from completely
different attitudes here and in the west regarding privacy and
modesty. In the west a woman’s beauty is public. The public
in fact demands to be able to compare, sort and judge, based
upon a woman’s appearance. Women are encouraged to look ‘pretty’,
and wear the correct clothing and accoutrements to meet with
public approval. Young women are especially vulnerable to the
demands put upon them by society in regards to their appearance.
In short, women in the west are required to put on a public show,
as it were, and be judged thereby. Much of the clothing worn
is designed to look sexy, and draw attention. I suppose that
the one who draws the most attention wins. Barbie is often the
first teacher that little western girls get in how to play this
game.
“Here privacy is the rule. A woman’s appearance is a private matter,
and hers to control. A woman’s beauty isn’t a public commodity to
be on display for all to see. Women here generally try to deflect attention from
their appearance, rather than attract it. Modesty is reflected in the choice
of dress adopted by most women in public. To be able to see a Qatari woman without
her abaya (loose, opaque cloak) and niqab (head covering) is a privilege, not
a right, and it’s a carefully administered privilege at that.
“As
a woman, it isn’t so difficult to see Qatari ladies in
this way, it’s
simply a matter of being invited to a social function, or to someone’s
home, or possibly an everyday occurrence at work. As a man, seeing Qatari
ladies without their traditional covering is fairly uncommon, although
he may see
them at work, or even in public (those who choose not to cover). To someone
living here, Barbie, and what she represents is shallow and superficial.
Women here would rather be judged by their conduct, piety, or intelligence
than by
their fashion sense. To be forced to compete on that level seems rather
like being a piece of meat on display.
“Thus Fulla came about. Fulla fits into all of Barbie’s clothes,
although she has a full line of her own as well. Fulla likes Barbie’s clothes,
in fact, and frequently wears them, but when she goes out to the souqs, or to
work, she makes sure to put on her abaya and hijab. Fulla comes with a range
of tastes as well. She needn’t wear an abaya, some sets include only a
hijab, with the rest of the clothing being indistinguishable from modest western
clothes. Other Fullas are very conservative, reflecting the varying standards
and tastes in the Muslim world. The point is, that Fulla can reflect and preserve
the values of the Gulf, whereas Barbie challenges them. Both are available here,
and parents may choose which one they buy for their little girls.
“The
best doll I have seen in this category is a generic knock-off.
She looks like Barbie, but is sold in a set where she is a
physician. She comes with
a lab coat over her clothes, and has a full range of equipment available
with which to conduct physical exams. She can even collect
lab specimens. In my opinion,
that ‘Dr. Barbie’ presents a much better role model for
young girls than the anorexic slave-to-fashion ever did.” (Dervish
5/29/05)
Dervish
also described a breastfeeding doll sold in Qatar. These are
hand-made by a women’s group in Saudi Arabia to raise
awareness about breastfeeding. The baby has a snap for a mouth, that
snaps onto the mother’s snap breast.
Breastfeeding rates in the Gulf are still pretty good, but they
are falling as the economies modernize. This doll is part of an effort
to slow or stop
that trend.
Women’s Swimwear Models
“Here
are some pictures of swimsuits that I found on-line. These
aren’t actually from Qatar, but you will see these
here, especially among Arab ex-pats. My wife is having one
brought back from Egypt. Wearing a get up like this isn’t
necessary, but it does tend to cut down on the stare factor.
Other ways
that women deal with this problem are to swim in indoor women-only
pools, to swim with an abaya covering the body (a bit impractical
unless you’re just wading), to swim in remote locations
far from prying eyes (best bet), or to forego swimming altogether.
With even nighttime temperatures climbing into the thirties
(C), this last option would be unfortunate.”
*
* *
Some Qatari Musicians
“Traditional
dress for males consists of a thobe, elsewhere called a jilbab or jalabiyya. It’s a long-sleeved white
garment reaching to few centimeters above the ankle. This is
worn over white pants and a white T-shirt. Headgear is a gutra,
a white or red-checked cloth, topped with an aqal or ring to
keep it in place on the head. Nearly all Qatari men dress traditionally.” (Dervish
5/10/05)
Qatar’s
culture is based on Bedouin poetry, song and dance. Traditional
dances in Doha, the capital, are performed
on Friday
afternoons; one such dance
is the Ardah, a stylized martial dance performed by two rows of dancers
who are accompanied by an array of percussion instruments,
including al-ras (a
large drum whose leather is heated by an open fire), tambourine and cymbals,
along with small drums. Other instruments played in Qatar include the oud and rebaba, both string instruments, as well as the Arabian
flute. The Qatari Golf
Folklore Center is one of the preeminent centers for the study of the folk
music of the Persian Gulf. Arab and Andalusian classical music are played
in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Islamic, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Libya, Morocco,
Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen, as
well as in Arab communities world-wide.
The
dolls, the dress of these fascinating people, the music and
dance—these
are all elements of a place, a people, a history—and its soil.
We here at Common Ground 191 celebrate all the countries from whom we
have
garnered
soil for our art project, Qatar’s ancient, ambivalent sands included.
Thank you, Mr. Dave Schrall for the little carton, and thank you Dervish,
for your contributions to cultural understanding. Salaam.
* "Fiqh
literally means, the true understanding of what is intended.
An example of this usage can be found in the Prophet Muhammad's
statement: "To whosever Allah wished good, he gives the
Fiqh (true understanding) of the deen". Technically, however,
fiqh refers to the science of deducing Islamic Laws from evidence
found in the sources of Islamic law. By extension it also means
the body of Islamic laws so deduced." -Abu Ameenah Bilal
Philips in: 'The
Evolution of Fiqh' Top | Back
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