The National Museum of Qatar presents a national narrative of the history and culture of the people and the country. In the exhibit named “Life on the Coast” the museum shows the historical narrative of the importance of pearl fishing to the nation not just as an economic resource but also an essential part of the culture as presented in previous blog posts. The museum aims to show the audience the significance of pearling by showing the dangers associated with pearling in open seas for long periods of time and how the pearl divers would operate on sea which would evoke an emotional reaction from the visitors towards the struggles of the divers. The museum shows the audience to perceive the history of pearl fishing to be seen as an integral part of the lives of the people as they lived in tandem with the sea and depended on it for their civilization. In this final blog post, I will focus my attention on how the museum portrays the integration of the sea in the culture of the Qataris and analyse how the museum put forward a narrative that the dependency of the locals on the sea for providing them with resources lead them to build an appreciation for it.
Although the National Museum depicts the relationship of the people with the sea as one of awe and appreciation, it is also dependent and inherently exploitative as the humans are the ones depending on nature and not the sea depending on the Qatari locals for its flourishment. The museum tries to show the socio-economic importance of the sea but fails to show how divers had been exploiting the resources of the sea and celebrating it only when it presented them with useful resources such as oysters and fish. The idea of building close relations with nature is seen in the article by Ramachandra Guha in “Radical American Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation” who argues that by making use of the natural resources around us, humans build a positive relationship with nature which leads us to be more appreciative and environmentally caring of the resource (Guha, 75). This leads to the question of whether nature can only be appreciated by people if it presents them with something to be appreciative of as it did in the case of Qatar, had they not found oysters and pearls would they still consider the ocean to be an integral part of their lives. This question can be answered by Cronon’s ideas on wilderness as he writes that humans are appreciative of nature regardless of the material and resourceful relationship as sometimes it is enough to simply be in the presence of nature to feel appreciative of it (Cronon, 2). As noted in my first blog post, the museum depicts the local people having feelings of awe and fear of the sea as it was provider for them as well as a taker of life. The museum evokes these feelings of awe through sounds of the ocean and large imagery projected onto the walls which shows the underwater and the also through the fictional movie made specifically for the museum, Nafas.
The notion of hard work and struggle is prevalent throughout the museum exhibit as it tries to evoke sympathy for pearl divers through the recorded interviews, movies and displays of historical diving and pearling equipment. The museum aims at showing the audience the difficulties associated with pearl diving and to build a pride amongst the locals in celebrating their heritage and be thankful to the ocean for providing them with resources that allowed them to prosper economically thus linking nature and humans intimately. It is shown as reminder to be appreciative and respect the ocean as the modern day society does not see the value of the sea as an integral part of their lives or incorporate the sea into their culture since the urbanization and new found petroculture changed their perspective to opt for more environmentally destructive yet economically beneficial resources. This can also be seen as an effort to refocus our attention towards the sea not for an economic gain but to conserve and protect the sea as it was a part of the history of the nation which is depicted by the museum. Cronon’s argument on nature conservation here would mean treating the sea not as a mystical untouched nature that can be used for escaping the monotony of urban life but more so to treat the ocean as a part of the culture of Qatar and build a positive relationship as it once existed in the past.
Although Guha argues that the third world uses the resources provided by nature for economic gain in order to ensure their survival, it can be applied to the museum’s narrative on building a relationship to the sea as well. As depicted in the museum exhibit, the people would migrate closer to the sea during pearl fishing season in order to find employment and settle close before moving away to the desert after the season ended (National Museum of Qatar, 2019). The people had to migrate to the coastal areas every summer in order to survive as their economic dependency relied on the sea where people could get jobs as fisherman, pearl divers or pearl merchants which according to the exhibit would lead to a cultural celebration of the sea as a provider.
The narrative of the museum in building and shaping the history of how pearl diving is depicted as that the people have been in a harmonious relationship with the sea as it has been a source of income and a cultural reminder of what the sea meant to them. The museum aims at wanting to promote the peoples appreciation towards the sea and place the same value on it as the previous generations had. Even though the sea does not play a major role in society nowadays due to urbanization and globalization, there does not have to be a dependent relationship on the sea to see its inherent beauty and can also be appreciated regardless of what it provides us with.
Works Cited:
William Cronon, ed., Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1995, 69-90
Guha, Ramachandra. “Radical American Environmentalism and Wilderness Preservation: A Third World Critique”, Environmental Ethics, Vol. 11 (1), Spring 1989.
Life on the Coast. 28 March 2019 – , National Museum of Qatar, Doha.
