Three faculty members and six students at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) have been awarded an Undergraduate Research Education Program (UREP) grant by Qatar National Research Fund for a research proposal on ‘The Preservation of Qatari Cultural Heritage Through the Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Games’.
The project aims to preserve intangible national culture for current and future generations by digitally archiving and promoting traditional Qatari games.
Members of the research team include:
- Liberal Arts & Sciences Director Patty Paine
- Graphic Design Associate Professor Law Alsobrook
- Liberal Arts & Sciences Associate Professor Dr Summer Bateiha
- Latifa Al-Sulaiti (student)
- Maryam Al-Muftah (student)
- Ghada Al-Qashouti (student)
- Fatima Abbas (student)
- Naima Almajdobah (student)
- Amna Al-Horr (student)
The significance of the research lies in its capacity to preserve traditional games that run the risk of being lost to modernisation, urbanisation and globalisation. When such games disappear, they take with them the values, narratives, histories, insights and identities linked to the culture of a population.
According to Patty Paine, there is scant information on traditional Qatari games and that there is a gap in the current knowledge about these games as important sources of intangible heritage.
The intangibility of traditional games and their reliance on collective memory makes them fragile and easily lost. We hope to preserve these games and the important cultural heritage they represent.
In addition to preserving traditional games, publicising them and the narratives that surround them, to people from outside of Qatari culture, the research will provide others with awareness and understanding of Qatari culture and traditions.
Preserving and promoting cultural heritage
The project aligns with the pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030 and is consistent with UNESCO’s first Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity first issued in 2001. The UNESCO Proclamation endeavoured to foster the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage, including games.
Researchers will create an accessible archive of traditional games to preserve and study the games as cultural, historical and where applicable, narrative objects.
Professor Alsobrook explained that they are not just interested in the games but also in the stories of those who played the games. He said that through focus groups, surveys and individual interviews, they hope to capture the recollections of those who played these games.
In many ways, preserving these accounts is as important as preserving the games themselves.
A digital archive of these traditional games will be developed and promoted through social media campaigns and through the creation of materials that can be used in K-12 classrooms. The researchers hope that their investigations and findings would eventually lead to traditional gameplay gatherings and the creation of inter-generational traditional gaming clubs.
Associate Professor Bateiha added that they hope to interest the younger generation in the games and to host events where these games can be played and enjoyed. She said they are also interested in adapting select traditional games into digital formats so that a traditional game can experience a new life as a video or mobile game.
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