1st Edition
Representing the Nation Heritage, Museums, National Narratives, and Identity in the Arab Gulf States
The 1970s saw the emergence and subsequent proliferation across the Arabian Peninsula of ‘national museums’, institutions aimed at creating social cohesion and affiliation to the state within a disparate population. Representing the Nation examines the wide-ranging use of exhibitionary forms of national identity projection via consideration of their motivations, implications (current and future), possible historical backgrounds, official and unofficial meanings, and meanings for both the user/visitor and the multiple creators. The book responds to, due to the importance placed on tradition, heritage and national identity across all the states of the Peninsula, and the growth of re-imagined and new museums, the need for far greater discussion and research in these areas.
Figures and Tables
Acknowledgements
Editors and Contributors
General Introduction: National Representations or Representations of the Nation: museums, heritage, identity and narratives - Pamela Erskine-Loftus, Victoria Penziner Hightower, and Mariam Ibrahim Al-Mulla
Part 1: Sensibilities
Part 1 Introduction - Pamela Erskine-Loftus
Bringing it Back Home: Redefining Islamic Art in Saudi Arabia - Idries Trevathan and Manal Alghannam
Locating Qatar on the World Stage: Museums, Foreign Expertise and the Construction of Qatar’s Contemporary Identity - Karen Exell
Context and Identity as Generators of Concept: Four Examples from Bahrain - Kamila Bielinska-Basmaji and Marwan Basmaji
We’re All Qataris Here: The Nation-Building Narrative of the National Museum of Qatar - Jocelyn Sage Mitchell
Part 2: Museuming
Part 2 Introduction - Mariam Ibrahim Al-Mulla
One Nation, One Myth and Two Museums: Heritage, Architecture and Culture as Tools for Assembling Identity in Qatar - Ali A. Alraouf
Building the Past: Archaeology and National Development in the Gulf - Andrew Petersen
Oral History and National Stories: Theory and Practice in the GCC - Rachel Teskey and Norah Alkhamis
Qatar: Cultivating ‘The Citizen’ of the Futuristic State - Marwa Maziad
Part 3: Projection
Part 3 Introduction - Victoria Penziner Hightower
All the World’s a Stage Designed by Zaha Hadid: How the Gulf’s New Mega-theatres Attempt to Promote 'Global' Identities - Katherine Hennessey
National Identity and Performativity at Bahrain National Museum - Hae Won Jeong
The Saudi Arabian National Museum: Unexpected Collections and Narratives? - Virginia Cassola
Time, Space and Narrative in Emirati Museums - Matthew MacLean
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Pamela Erskine-Loftus is director of The Media Majlis at Northwestern University in Qatar, a forthcoming academic museum on journalism, and media.
Victoria Penziner Hightower is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Georgia—Dahlonega. She received her PhD from Florida State University in 2011 and holds two Master’s Degrees in History (Florida State University, 2004) and Near Eastern Studies (University of Arizona, 2006).
Mariam Ibrahim Al-Mulla is an Art History Assistant Professor and Academic Coordinator in the History Programme at Qatar University, and in 2015 was a recipient of the national Education Excellence award
Representing the Nation is a timely and important collection of essays that, while considering the entire Gulf region, provide the contextualization necessary in order to understand how museums are being harnessed to recreate a past that is disconnected from younger generations; to reinforce present affluence and achievements; and, to represent new models of national identity. Covering the nation-building efforts of the 70s up to the contemporary, branded museums, particularly in Abu Dhabi and Doha, this volume is essential reading.- Dr Jane Bristol-Rhys, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE
