European University Institute Library

Representing the nation, heritage, museums, national narratives, and identity in the Arab Gulf States, edited by Pamela Erskine-Loftus, Victoria Penziner Hightower, and Mariam Ibrahim Al-Mulla

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Representing the nation

electronic resource

bibliographydictionaries

950739111

edited by Pamela Erskine-Loftus, Victoria Penziner Hightower, and Mariam Ibrahim Al-Mulla

Routledge research in museum studiesTaylor & Francis eBooks

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.--, Provided by publisher

Part I. Sensibilities / 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 II. Museuming / Mariam Ibrahim Al-Mulla -- 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 III. Projection / 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