Qatar University (QU) has formed a joint committee with the College of Arts and Sciences aiming to collect and document the stories of Qatari people and their daily lives during the 1950s and 1960s.
The initiative is inspired due to the lack of written records about this period in Qatar's history, as many changes occurred in the lifestyle of the Qatari community during the 1950s and 1960s, according to a statement on Sunday.
This documentation aims to preserve an aspect of the national heritage of Qatar to benefit the future generations of the Qatari people, as well as students and researchers from all around the world interested in studying and researching Qatar and the Gulf region in general.
The committee will interview Qataris or those who have lived in the 50s and 60s in Qatar, to write their memoirs from that time period of their lives.
Maryam al-Thani, section head of reference and information services at Qatar University Library said, "We will start this campaign to collect the stories of Qatari people and individuals who lived in Qatar during the aforementioned period. These stories can be sent to the e-mail: [email protected]”
“The committee respects the privacy of individuals if they wish to share some stories without mentioning their names. Among the topics that can be written about are: work in the oil industry, changes in the family system, bureaucracy, school systems and any other topics in the same context,” she added.
Peter Polak-Springer, associate professor, European Humanities at College of Arts and Sciences said: “The Qatar University Library is building an archive that documents the social history and intangible cultural heritage of the early modernisation era in Qatar in the 1950s and 1960s by collecting realistic experiences and stories of those who lived through that period.
"The importance of documenting social history and monitoring the living reality during that era stems from the fact that it is a period of time during which the Qatari society witnessed social and cultural transformations that represented a turning point in the lives of those who were contemporary of that period.”
This documentation aims to preserve an aspect of the national heritage of Qatar to benefit the future generations of the Qatari people, as well as students and researchers from all around the world interested in studying and researching Qatar and the Gulf region in general.
The committee will interview Qataris or those who have lived in the 50s and 60s in Qatar, to write their memoirs from that time period of their lives.
Maryam al-Thani, section head of reference and information services at Qatar University Library said, "We will start this campaign to collect the stories of Qatari people and individuals who lived in Qatar during the aforementioned period. These stories can be sent to the e-mail: [email protected]”
“The committee respects the privacy of individuals if they wish to share some stories without mentioning their names. Among the topics that can be written about are: work in the oil industry, changes in the family system, bureaucracy, school systems and any other topics in the same context,” she added.
Peter Polak-Springer, associate professor, European Humanities at College of Arts and Sciences said: “The Qatar University Library is building an archive that documents the social history and intangible cultural heritage of the early modernisation era in Qatar in the 1950s and 1960s by collecting realistic experiences and stories of those who lived through that period.
"The importance of documenting social history and monitoring the living reality during that era stems from the fact that it is a period of time during which the Qatari society witnessed social and cultural transformations that represented a turning point in the lives of those who were contemporary of that period.”
