Description
Book SynopsisMuseum activity has, in recent years, undergone major and rapid development in the Arabian Peninsula, with the regeneration of existing museums as well as the establishment of new ones. Alongside such rapid expansion, questions are inevitably raised as to the new challenges museums face in this region and whether the museum, as a central focus of heritage preservation, also runs the risk of overshadowing local forms of heritage performance and preservation. With contributions from leading academics from a range of disciplines and heritage practitioners with first-hand experience of working in the region, this volume addresses the issues and challenges facing museums in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen and the UAE. It focuses on the themes of politics, public engagement and the possibility of a new museum paradigm which might appropriately reflect the interests and culture of the region. The interdisciplinary approaches analyse museum development from both an inside and outside perspe
Trade Review'Greatly expanding the literature on museums and practice in the Gulf, this book explores timely research and emerging avenues of inquiry in this fast developing field. Drawn from across the region the contributions offer insight into aspects of museum practice and audiences which have not been available before - a must read for those in museums in the region and anyone interested in international museum practice.' Pamela Erskine-Loftus, Northwestern University in Qatar, State of Qatar
Table of ContentsPreface
1. Introduction: Questions of Globalisation, Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula
2. Building Nations in a Modern Middle East
3. Staging Identity in a Globalised World
4. Universal Art Museums in the Arabian Peninsula
5. Knowledge Production in the Realm of Culture
6. ‘We are not people of the city’: Narratives of Purity and Exclusion
7. Oil, Conflict and Memory in the Arabian Peninsula: Private Collections and Museums
8. ‘... [T]his shifting present which we call the future’
