Sub-theme: Organizing Oral History: Institutions, archives, museums, organizations and grassroots

groups

Title of your paper in English:

Oral History Project for Sport History in Qatar :(!Lets go) يال

Abstract:

This contribution aims to discuss why the Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum (QOSM) is using oral

history to explore Qatar‟s sport history. Since I was invited to join the team of the future QOSM it

has been my task to lead a research project about the history of sport in Qatar. The country of the

Asian Games in 2006, Qatar is situated in the Gulf region and is ruled by the Al-Thani family since

the middle of the 1800‟s. Before the discovery of oil in Dukhan (West Coast) in the 1930s, “sport”

was connected with traditional and daily activities. As our research started, we were faced with a

lack of written sources about sport. This is connected with the oral tradition in Arab countries. The

majlis, for example, can be considered the oral tradition place and it also describes the general

system by which information is passed on and what decisions have been taken. This is an informal

institution where family problems are aired and decisions are made. In this way, what to do to

capture Qatar‟s sport history after the 1930s? Considering the context, an Oral History project has

been started. This is based on the idea that Oral History can help us to analyze or construct the past

in a complex way because the interviewee‟s memories can reveal sensitive experiences. In addition,

the Qatar sport history is very young. Thus, this is a unique opportunity to talk with some of the sport

pioneers in the country. Giving voice to these people, we can construct the sport history in Qatar and

enrich the QOSM collection. Furthermore, we will be connected with the cultural way that the

information is passed and perhaps understand that some turning points in the sport history were

decided in some majilis.

Title of your paper in Spanish:

Proyecto de Historia Oral para la Historia del Deporte en Qatar :(!Vamos¡) يال

Resumen:

Esta contribución tiene como objetivo discutir por qué lo Museo de los Juegos Olímpicos y Deporte

del Qatar (QOSM) está utilizando la historia oral para explorar la historia del deporte en Qatar.

Desde que fue invitado a unirse al equipo de lo futuro QOSM, ha sido mi tarea de liderar un proyecto

de investigación sobre la historia del deporte en Qatar. El país de los Juegos Asiáticos en 2006, Qatar

está situado en la región del Golfo. Antes del descubrimiento de petróleo en Dukhan en 1930, el

„deporte‟ estaba conectado a las actividades tradicionales y cotidianas. A medida que nuestra

investigación se inició, nos enfrentamos con la falta de fuentes escritas sobre el deporte. Esto está

relacionado con la tradición oral en los países árabes. El majlis, por ejemplo, puede ser considerado

el lugar de tradición oral y también describe el sistema general mediante el cual la información se

transmite y qué decisiones se han tomado. Entonces, qué hacer para capturar la historia del deporte

después de lo año 1930? Teniendo en cuenta el contexto, un proyecto de historia oral se ha iniciado.

Esto se basa en la idea de que la historia oral puede ayudar a analizar el pasado o construir de una

manera compleja, porque la memoria de los entrevistados pueden revelar las experiencias sensibles.

Además, la historia del deporte de Qatar es muy joven. Por lo tanto, esta es una oportunidad única de

hablar con algunos de los pioneros del deporte en el país. Dar voz a estas personas, podemos

construir la historia del deporte y enriquecer la colección de lo QOSM. Además, se conectará con la

vía cultural que la información se pasa y talvez descobriremos que algunos puntos de inflexión en la

historia del deporte se decidieron en algunos majlis.

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT FOR SPORT HISTORY IN QATAR :(!LET’S GO) يال

Luis Henrique ROLIM SILVA, Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum

This essay aims to discuss why the Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum (QOSM) is using oral

history to explore Qatar‟s sport history. Planning to open in 2012, the QOSM will be a national

institution for sports history and sports heritage. On the one side it aims to protect, store and

investigate sports and sports objects of this country and the Arab world, on the other side the

museum deals with the inclusion of Qatar in the international sports community and the positioning

of Qatar as a host for international sports events.

Since I was invited to join the team of the future QOSM it has been my task to lead a research

project about the history of sport in Qatar. The country of the Asian Games in 2006, the State of

Qatar is situated in the Gulf region and is ruled by the Al-Thani family since previous times. Before

the discovery of oil in Dukhan (West Coast) in the 1930‟s, “sport” was connected with traditional

and daily activities.

However that information is not so clear for us, because since our research started, we were

faced with a lack of written sources about the sport in the country. How to explain this? The first

answer is probably connected to the „oral tradition‟ in Arab countries. The majlis, for example, can

be considered center of the oral tradition, a place where information is transmitted and where

decisions are made. This is an informal institution where family problems are aired and sports groups

get in touch outside of work.

Follow this idea and the question: what can we do to capture Qatar‟s sport history, especially

after the 1930s? We develop the idea of an Oral History project. However, some concepts and

justifications to use this methodology were necessary. Based on the idea that Oral History can help

us to analyze or construct the past in a complex way because the interviewee‟s memories can reveal

sensitive experiences, we began our project.

In this essay I will present a brief cultural-historical context of Qatar connected with sports

and a brief description of the theoretical approach used to justify the Oral History project. It was

researched in papers and books based on the topics mentioned above. The language barriers are a

limitation of this contribution. This paper is divided mainly into two review topics: first, the Qatar

political-cultural context for our research; and second, the Oral History theoretical bases including

the discussion of memory.

QATAR POLITICAL-CULTURAL ASPECTS FOR SPORT RESEARCH

Where is Qatar? What happened in this country? When did sports come into it?

Sometimes the news on TV put in our mind different ideas about what happens in the

Gulf Region. In this first part I will try to deconstruct these ideas to some degree and

clarify for the reader the context of our work.

The State of Qatar can be considered part of the Arab world. The Arab world stretches from

Morocco across Northern Africa to the Persian Gulf. The Arab world is more or less equal to the area

known as the Middle East and North Africa. It‟s important to understand that Arab it can also be

defined as those countries where Arabic is the dominant language. However, it‟s important to know

that the Arab countries are religiously and ethnically diverse with Islam being the dominant religion

in most countries (US ARMY TRAINING AND DOCTRINE COMMAND, 2006).

Qatar is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) with five other countries1 situated

in the Persian Gulf Region. This Council was established in 25th

May 1981 and aims to effect

coordination, integration and inter-connection between Member States in all fields in order to

achieve unity between them; to deepen and strengthen relations, links and areas of cooperation now

prevailing between their peoples in various fields; to formulate similar regulations in various fields

(economic and financial affairs; commerce, customs and communications and education and

culture); to stimulate scientific and technological progress in the fields of industry, mining,

agriculture, water and animal resources; to establish scientific research; and to establish joint

ventures and encourage cooperation by the private sector for the good of their peoples.

One of the smaller countries of the Gulf Region, Qatar nowadays is one of the richest and

most peaceful countries in the Arab world. The Qatari people are used to live with long and hot

summers and mild winters with limited rainfall. Most Qataris are Arabs but some have Iranian or

African ancestry. The large foreign communities in the country are Indians, Iranians, Pakistanis and

Egyptians. Other ethnical groups include Filipinos, Bangladeshis, Sudanese, Afghans, other Arabs,

Sri Lankans, and Westerners, mostly British (METZ, 1994).

The British community is dominant not by coincidence. This community has been considered

the pioneers to introduce sport in Qatar. To understand more about the British influence, we have to

steps back and look to the history of the country.

In the history of the country we will find territorial disputes and lack of economic resources.

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century Qatar was involved in territorial disputes

1 Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Iran and Iraq also are situated in the Persian Gulf but

are temporaly excluded. Yemen had aproved your entrance in the GCC (THE GULF GOOPERATION COUNCIL,

2010).

with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Great Britain. Most of these disputes were connected with

Qatar‟s strategic position in the Gulf, and specifically related to its control of the nautical area. In

this period pearls were the main economic resource. This issue was the main reason of conflicts

involving Arab tribes from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain (RUSH, 1991).

Nowadays Qatar is a constitutional monarchy and the current Emir2, His Highness Shaikh

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, is the 7th

leader to rules the country since 1850. The Al Thanis have

been the leaders of the two different groups that have lived in the country since past times: the desert

people and the non-desert people. Looking for natural sources (water and land) in the desert the

nomadic Bedouins travelled the country on camels looking for a good place to erect tents to stay and

use the natural sources. The non-desert people were more fixed close to sea. Their culture was

connected with fishing, boat activities and pearl diving (LOCKERBIE, 2005-2010).

The necessities of Qatari daily life in those different groups created the now so-called „Qatar

traditional sports‟: camel races, fishing, pearl diving, boat races, hunting, falconry, etc. However, we

didn‟t find sources to affirm that those activities had been practiced with the spirit of competition in

previous times.

The Qatari reality started to change in the 1930s when oil was discovered. In this period

Qatar was a British protectorate. The Political Agent in the Persian Gulf was located in Bahrain3 and

was designated to communicate with the ruler of Qatar, mainly in regard to the oil exploration by the

Anglo-Persian Oil Company Ltd. and to the security of the country‟s borders.

Oil exploration started after World War II at the end of the 1940s. And in this period we can

say that modern sport was introduced to the country. Basically this introduction was made by

foreigners who came to work in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Most of them were of British

origin. In this sense, the first sports activities were connected with the British sport culture such

football, golf, cricket, tennis, etc.

Few primary written sources can be found about sport in this period. Until now we have

found only secondary sources like the book Qatar Youth and Sports. This was the first effort to cover

the history of sport between the years of 1950 to 1995. The book provides a short description about

the beginning and development of sport in the country and also gives a brief idea of the development

of the sports clubs and the federations. The source material for this book was government and

administrative documents, survey forms and interviews.

2 The term “Emir” (or Amir), often translated as prince, is the term used for monarch or ruler in the Persian Gulf region.

The term “Shaikh” (or Sheikh or Shaykh) is an honorific title, which can mean a ruler, a tribal leader, or a venerable

religious figure (BLANCHARD, 2008). 3 Qatar didn‟t have the Political Agent agent situated in the country because the ruler of Qatar said that this could

generate internal conflicts. The Emir was concerned that the Qataris could think that Qatar was not under his rules

(RUSH, 1991).

Recently the Qatar Olympic Committee launched an 8 volumes book series, a continuation of

the previous book, covering the sport between 1996 till 2006. These nine books which examine

sports in the country are an excellent source for researchers and others interested in the history of

sports in Qatar that are looking for important dates and achievement numbers4.

Why is there a lack of written documents about sport history? Probably the cultural

circumstances may explain why we miss systematic written historiography similar to that in western

countries. A brief review of cultural aspects of the Qatari society may shed light on this

phenomenon.

The nomadic Bedouins culture for example, does not have the habit to carry many things

during the journeys. So it seems difficult for them to carry letters, diaries, etc. However, has

developed a strong oral tradition, much of it reflected on the majlis5. This meeting place is

considered a prominent institution in the intellectual life of early Islamic community: a salon-like

session in the caliph‟s or emir‟s court, in which scholars were often summoned for debate (jadal) and

discussion (munazarah) about the important issues of the day (GRIFFITH, 1999).

The majlis can be considered a physical center of the oral tradition. Furthermore, it also

describes a general system by which information was, and is, transmitted and by which decisions are

made. This is an informal institution where family problems are aired and nowadays, sports groups

get in touch out of work.

The majlis is also connected to the religion. Most Qataris follow the Wahhabi sect of Sunni

Islam. The remaining Muslims, Arabs, Pakistanis, and Afghans are Sunni, while Iranians are mainly

Shia6. The State of Qatar is regulated based on religious rules. The code of conduct which governs

the manner in which Muslims‟ life is known as shari’a and applies individually and collectively. It

covers all areas cultural, social, legal, economic and political which must be established and operate

in accordance with the guidance delivered by the Quran7 and sunnah

8.

4 Named Qatar Youth and Sport – Part II: Documentary Book on Youth and Sport in the State of Qatar (1996-2006) this

8 volumes book it is organized by the Qatar Olympic Committee and was launched in 2009. The 8 volumes are divided

in 4 main sections: first part: Qatar Olympic Committee; second part: federations and sport authorities; third part: sports

clubs; and fourth part: general Authority of Youth. 5 Define by as a noun of place from the verb djalasa to sit down and by extension, to sit, to hold session. Among the

principal derivative meanings are a meeting place, meeting, assembly; a reception hall (of a caliph, high dignitary or the

other personage) and a session which is held there, a hall in which a professor‟s courses are given or a judge‟s sentences

delivered (hence praetorium, tribunal) or further where the debates of an assembly take place (hence council)

(LAZARUS-YAFEH, 1999). 6 For more information see: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/qatoc.html

7 The sacred text of Islam, understood by Muslims to comprise the revelations of God to Muhammad through the angel,

Gabriel. Its text is valid for religious purposes only in its original Arabic. Translations are interpretations only. 8 A branch of Islam founded on acceptance of the legitimacy of the first four caliphs – Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali

– who succeeded Muhammad, and representing 85-90% of Muslims.

Muslims hold that there are five basic tenets of Islam stemming from the tawheed9, the belief

in the unity of God and His creation. The first is the affirmation of Muslim belief, the shahada10

, the

statement of the unity of God, and the identification of His prophet. Following from this is the duty

of prayer, salat (prayer), which must be carried out five times a day, preferably with others,

particularly on Fridays (LOCKERBIE, 2005-2010).

These moments can be considered meeting times, in the first moment to pray but at the same

time to talk (especially after prayer) with others about many topics related to daily life, including

sports. It is important element for us, as scholars and museum professionals, to understand how

information is communicated between the Qatari people.

The majlis and other aspects can be a far away trace of culture but maybe we can start to

understand why we found a lack of written documents regarding sport. The topic here is not to think

that the Qatari people do not write, but that they prefer to exchange information in an oral way. If

people are used to exchange information in an oral way, are written sources a good source to capture

the sport history in the country? In this sense we started to look for an Oral History project.

ORAL HISTORY PROJECT BASES

What is Oral History? Until today it is a question that many scholars and especially

non-academic people are discussing. In this second part I will introduce some

theoretical bases of our project that were used to justify it.

The Oral History boom in the 1970s cannot be explained simply by the previous experiences

in this field and the development of the portable audio recorder. This boom is better explained by the

paradigm shift inside Oral History. Trebitsch (1994) help us saying that the work to make up the lack

of written documents and to construct files for it, it is an example of „what not to do in Oral History‟.

This shifted of paradigm raise several questions about Oral History, like: is it a discipline or method?

In this section I will try to present some discussion about this.

The mythical genealogy created by some authors, that Oral history is the counter-history, can

be understood as the first effort to inform the discussion: against the old history, against the official

history and against the neutral history (TREBITSH, 1994). With different opinion, Joutard (2002)

says that the expression Oral History it is not clear, so he prefers to use the term „oral source‟,

because it is just one more source like the others.

9 The belief of faith in God.

10 The expression of faith, and one of the five basic practical tenets of Islam.

Alberti (1989) says that it is difficult to define Oral History because we will come up against

Human Sciences disciplines, like biography, oral tradition, memory, languages, as well as qualitative

methods. Further, she point out that Oral History serves many roles. Sometimes, it is a method for

scientific investigation, sometimes it is a source for research and sometimes it is a technique to

produce first-person interviews.

Corroborating this, Amado and Ferreira (2002) say that it is possible to reduce Oral History

to three principal categories: technique, discipline and methodology. For the authors this is difficult

because each category puts different aims to Oral History. In this sense, they argue that Oral History

is nothing more than a group of procedures to use the audio recorder for both current research and

archival purposes. They further contend that to make Oral History more than this is fantasy, because

Oral History does not have theoretical/philosophical bases and procedures that can be defined as

methodological procedures. For Amado and Ferreira, Oral History is the connection between the

eternal human curiosity and modern technologies.

To contribute in this Garrido (1992/1993) asked the follow question: does Oral History

generate a different and alternative historical product, or is it possible to write another history using

oral sources? For Garrido, Oral History allow us to construct an interpretation of the past that is

richer, more complete and more complex.

As you can see the discussion is too long for a single essay. Here I am just putting together

some elements to understand the field. Many of these arguments are based in the authors‟

experiences and their national cultures. Finally, it is important to remember that oral and written

sources can be considered complementary. Each one can give a different perspective on the past. For

the researcher the high valorization of oral sources and the depreciation of the written can block the

specific contributions of each one (PORTELLI, 1997).

So, we can say that Oral History aims to understand the past through oral reports of people

who lived in specific moments in the past. In this way, Oral History has to work with the memories

of these people and help us to understand oral records.

For a long time, memory has been treated in two extreme ways: on the one side we had

„official memory‟ and, on the other, „non-official‟ memory or „subordinate memory‟. Nowadays

there is a consensus: we have multiples memories and accepting this is the best approach for rich

analyses into the research which is based on Oral History (ALBERTI, 2005).

So, the act of selecting people informants requires a theoretical background in discussing

notions of memory. This is necessary because memory is not an individual phenomenon, but it is the

result of complex social determinations. We think, remember and act in socially and culturally

determined ways (HALL, 1992).

Halbwachs (1990) and Le Goff (1992) reinforce the previous arguments, reminding us that

memory is a social construction: the things that we remember are interactions between individual and

social experiences. In this way, the authors give an important role to „collective memory‟, suggesting

that social memory can determine individual memory. Further, „collective memory‟ has the capacity

to maintain and update the things in the individual memory.

It is important to say that the individual memory does not capture everything; it is selective. It

depends on the impact of events, on the people associated with the event, and on previous knowledge

about the event, and as well as the places where the informant lived. In this sense, memory is

organized, constructed and based on the political and personal perspectives of interviewees‟. So in

Pollak (1992), we find a „phenomenological relation‟ between memory and identity feeling because

identity is constructed with reference to other people11

.

The discussion can be broadened if we include genetics, pedagogical references, emotions,

traumas, and other fields. Here we will get in the field of the individual pre-conditions to store

memory. Memory is a perceptive and thought dynamic pre-condition; it has many conscious and

unconscious levels and some of this depends on the biological apparatus (NIETHAMMER, 1997).

However this is not a topic for this essay. The subject is only to remember that memories fail.

Against any naivety, we know that to use memory in Oral History we have to treat, the collected oral

sources, in the same way that we treat the written sources.

For example, we have to evaluate the oral source internally and externally to understand who

is telling a story, when the person is telling it, why the story is being told and how it is told. In this

sense, it is a precondition to any oral historian try to identify when the interviewee came with

„common sense history‟ and also he have to be prepared to asked questions to identify it12

.

Methodological and ethical issues will determine the quality, and integrity, of the informants, in any

Oral History project.

However, how do we evaluate the quality of an oral source when we are discussing the

museum exhibition? To exhibit oral histories in a museum requires the consideration of other issues,

such as public space and technical issues. For example, oral source quality can be considered the way

that the interview was recorded. An audio recorded interview can have more, or less, „exhibit value‟

than a video interview; depending of the exhibition aim.

Is it possible to construct an exhibition around oral history in an audio format? Does the

interview address the objects on display in the exhibit gallery? These are questions that need to be

11

Based on Cultural History ideas, identity it is a concept to be discussed. . For more information take a look in Burke

(2005) and Pesavento (2004). 12

More information can be found in Hall (1992); Amado (1997); Thomson (1997).

raised in the exhibition context. Some people can say yes, others probably will say not13

. We came to

the Oral History Seminar to discuss it, because our Oral History project it is doing the first steps.

COLLECTING MEMORIES, PRESERVING THE QATARI SPORT HISTORY

Based on the context and the theoretical background presented above, we named our Oral

History project: Collecting memories, preserving the Qatari sport history. It aims to preserve

heritage for the future generations about the people who did/do the sport in the country; to create a

Qatar sport history through interviews with the people who did/do the sport in the country, and; to

present a Qatar sport history connected with the culture of the country and, finally, make the Qatar

Olympic & Sport Museum a Qatari window to this country for the world.

We are taking our first steps with this project. Until this moment we are doing some

preliminary interviews to understand better the sport context and the potential interviewees. We have

to cover more than 30 sports federations and clubs that are working in nowadays. Furthermore, we

have to identify potential interviewees that can help us to construct the sport history since 1930s.

Our project is open for everyone who contributed for the Qatar sport history. It means that

Qataris and non-Qataris are able to share with us their sports experiences in the country. In general

lines we have the following targets: authorities (presidents, heads, etc.); athletes (men and women);

coaches (men and women); general staff (doctors, assistants, etc.); and fans, supporters, etc.

So far, more than seventy people have been identified as potential interviewees and more than

ten preliminary interviews have been conducted, in seven months of work. Our goal it is covers all

the sports federations and clubs by summer 2010. This means that by the end of our first year we will

have a general overview of the sport in the country and more than 150 potential interviewees.

After we conclude this first step, we will be able to start to collecting interviews. For the

collection period (2010/2), we are planning to build research teams to handle our demand. We plan

to have a starter research team that should include at least: interviewer, translator and equipment

assistant. The languages barriers will be a challenge for us. Because of this we will try to get Qatari

people connected with the sport and to prepare them in training sessions. Preparing this people can

be considering the first legacy of our museum.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that interviews will be recorder in a manner that

reflects the needs of the future exhibition. This can be an important step for future audiences. In this

essay the focus was on the use of the oral history project into Qatar sport history. As described

13

Green (2006) and Thomas (2008) can gave us a clarify idea about oral history possibilities into museum exhibitions.

earlier, the history of sports in Qatar is very young and this gives us a unique opportunity to talk with

some of the sport pioneers in the country.

In this sense, we feel that by using Oral History methods, we can construct sports history in

Qatar in a scientific way and enrich the Qatar Olympic & Sport Museum collection. Furthermore, by

giving voice to these people in correspondence with local traditions, we will connect more clearly,

and legitimately, with the cultural way that information is transmitted, and perhaps understand that

some turning points in the sport history were decided in the majilis.

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