Pearl diving had a significant economic and cultural impact on the local people of Qatar to the extent that it was responsible for shaping the way of life for many people both on the land and at sea. The National Museum of Qatar displays on multiple screens interviews of Qatari pearl divers and merchants who shared their accounts of their life at sea and the difficulties that accompanied their journeys. However, despite all their hardships, the pearl divers were still willing to return for the pearl fishing season as it was their primary way of making a living. The pearl divers and their families would live on the coast during the pearl fishing season, generally the summer seasons, and then return to the desert during the colder months (Life on the Coast, 28 March 2019). The migratory patterns of the people from the desert to the coast and back shows the dependent relationship of the people towards the sea and utilizing it as a source of economic gains which also dictated their culture and way of life. We could also see a parallel of this in today’s society as the Qatari people shifted their dependency from pearl fishing to the production of petroleum and natural gas, interestingly which is also found in the sea.
In a book by the Petrocultures Research Group, After Oil, they introduce the concept of “petroculture” which means that our lives have become so intertwined with oil and its usage that it shapes the “values, practices, habits, beliefs and feelings” of society (Petrocultures Research Group, 9). The main concept here is the reliance that humans have on material objects that serve as capital for them which then determines the customs of society. They pose an interesting theory that human societies place a significant value towards materials that would benefit them to the extent they allow it to shape their lives much like how the pearl divers and their families let the pearling season determine their location and lifestyle as well as their culture as shown in Mira Nair’s film Nafas. The Museum depicts the sea as an inseparable part of Qatari civilization and pearl divers and showed how their lives revolved around the sea itself. The National Museum shows through the interviews of former pearl diving families the importance that the Qatari pearl divers placed on the sea as the interviewees state that “their lives were all about the sea” and that “their way of life was anchored to the sea” (Life on the Coast, 2019).
The Petrocultures Research Group also pose a theory of transitioning from petroculture to other forms of energy resources due to declining fossil fuels resources and shape our societies to make that shift. Although the PRG are arguing in favor of transitioning away from petroculture and giving significant importance to materialism and economic gain, the Qatari transitioned from one form of economic benefit through pearl fishing to another which was oil production. The decline in the pearling fishing industry came about due to the introduction of cheaper and artificially curated pearls from Japan which forced the Qatari pearl divers to look for a different source of income until they eventually discovered oil (Hobbs). However, the appreciation and admiration of the sea that the locals feel has not changed as evident by memorializing the history and heritage of pearl diving in the National Museum and creating monuments such as the “Pearl Monument” on Corniche Street. This shows that despite having changed their dependency from one material object to the other, the Qatari culture still maintains its legacy of pearl diving and their love of the sea.
Works Cited:
Life on the Coast. 28 March 2019 – , National Museum of Qatar, Doha.
Petrocultures Research Group, After Oil, Petrocultures Research Group. Edmonton; University of Alberta, 2016.
Hobbs, Mark. “Divers are a Pearl’s Best Friend: Pearl Diving in the Gulf 1840s–1930s”, Qatar Digital Library. 18 December, 2014. https://www.qdl.qa/en/divers-are-pearl’s-best-friend-pearl-diving-gulf-1840s–1930s
