DOHA: Traditional crafts and knowledge needs to be sustained by creating more market, according to experts at the "Living Treasures of the Arab World: Preserving our Acquired Knowledge" seminar yesterday. The event was aimed at bringing awareness about the importance of many individuals to the culture and ensure that their knowledge is protected, preserved and sustained for the public good.
"To preserve craft one needs to find market; there should be buyers for products or ideas," said Professor Abdelwahid El Wakil (pictured), a renowned architect and Research Professor at QFIS.
"There is no point in preserving crafts and then going ahead with glass buildings. Instead, these crafts should be used in the building. The ancient craft industry was economical as the materials were local and also had a spiritual essence. Now the industry is becoming robotic and hence the dilemma comes that if machines do everything, what will happen to the people. People are sustained through these traditional works and are now put aside by machines. Hence crafts should be supported for economic stability," he said.
"Currently, we discuss on green buildings and energy sustenance. Architects go high-tech to achieve what our ancestors had always attained. There is a difference between being modern and being content and hence it is not necessary that one need to use modern material for construction. Local and old methods are economical and sustainable," he said
El Wakil's works use much of local ideas that often have helped craftsmen to make cost-effective buildings in their areas. Some of his landmarks include the monumental King Saud mosque, in Saudi Arabia whose brick dome with a diameter of 20 metres and a peak height of 40 metres challenged structural engineers who refused liability for its construction without concrete.
"Our young people have lost interest in the old methods and much of our rich heritage is on the verge of extinction," said Dr Kaltham Al Ghanim, Associate professor of sociology at Qatar University, citing examples from Qatar's own cultures.
"Our ancestors had their own talents which can be seen in nomadic stock breeding, architecture; times of stars, wind direction, speed and duration; grazing, hunting and bird migrations. They had knowledge about how to use what available in their economy," she said.
Some of the examples of Qatari traditions she focused was Albajer and Nowara in architecture. Al bagir (Wind tower) construction was environment friendly and helped in internal cooling. Palm trunks and stones were burned together to manufacture cement called 'Nowara' apart from gypsum and other stuff available in the local market used for construction. Another dying industries are Al Sandog Al Mubait (traditional wooden box), Sadu (fabric made from raw materials from goat wool and camel dander), Al Thuraya Embroidery on clothing (the chandelier star, a Qatari traditional design) Gold ornaments like Al Beshut, goldsmiths and herbal medicine.
"Some of the crafts still exists today through foreign labourers who where trained. Ministry of Social Affairs has a programme for teaching 'Sadu' making; but young people are least interested to learn them. We are not sure if many of the masters like Ibn Abbas who excelled in herbal medicine passed over their knowledge. Programmes should ensure these dieing crafts are supported. Also though there are laws for monument preservation, aracheology etc, there is now law on heritage and art preservation and hence this factor also needs to be stressed," Dr Al Ghanim said.
Stressing on collecting, preserving and sharing of old ideas, Andrew Mills, Assistant Professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Qatar focused on Qatar Sawlif, an online oral history project. Swalif, gives people in Qatar the opportunity to make digital audio recordings of their life stories. It will form a growing portrait of the people of Qatar and will help them to connect to one another.
Dr Djamel Boussaa and Dr Fodil Fadli, assistant professors at QU, Department of Architecture and Urban planning also spoke during the seminar that aimed to identify various skilled individuals in the Arab region and facilitate the support systems they need and deserve in order to flourish their artistic skill to transmit it to the future generations.
© The Peninsula 2011
