Tradition and Modernity: Eternal tension

Academic Geekiness level: high
Caffeine level: critically low

When mental health professionals do stress tests and measure life events that cause the highest stress that can influence depression and other fun states of mind, they always cite change as the highest stressor. Death, moving house, and divorce are right up there as the highest stressors. So when one is considering the issues of culture change where one faces the death of a way of life, not just moving house but completely changing what the house and neighborhood look like, and divorcing oneself from the past as a way of embracing modernity, the result is a pretty stressful situation: welcome to the Gulf. As a result of the lightening fast pace of change, there is understandably a concern with cultural heritage and national identity. However, the fast pace of change means that there are generational difference in how the past is envisioned, how tradition is measured, and how cultural values keep pace with changing circumstances.

In Qatar, many Qataris would assert that Qatar's history began in 1971 when Qatar became a sovereign state, but implied in that assertion is that there was nothing in Qatar before that time. This is not true: this area, while not involving huge Cairo like cities, did have people who wandered through for trade, people who lived on the coast and fished and dove for pearls, and clans who claimed the territory for its own. But this was not a building people. Architecture was temporary, and even if you build a mud-brick building or a palm frond hut, it would blow down or melt away and nothing was lost. History was kept in oral tradition and in family relationships.

In "modern" society, one keeps ones historical records in things like books and buildings. Doha and Dubai had neither, but began to accumulate them once the late 20th century wealth began to pour in. As they adopted the material culture of "progress", some material values crept in with the things, and consumer culture with its value of Stuff, became a force to be reckoned with. If Stuff becomes the keeper of history and the symbol of cultural identity, then buildings, clothes, and iconography become more important, especially if you have to use them to make yourself distinctive to an outside world pouring in.

In Kuwait, there have been a few catastrophic events that seem to have influenced the Kuwaiti people's relationship with material culture. Kuwait City has been around for 250 years or so because it was a merchant center. Thus, when the oil wealth began to pour in during the 40's and 50's, there was a feeling of really arriving on a grand stage. Farah Al-Nakib, a graduate student at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, reports that in oral histories she did concerning how people feel about buildings and memory, people who had experienced life pre-oil and post-oil in Kuwait said, "Let the old buildings be demolished! It's the new Kuwait that deserves our admiration." And so Ms. Al Nakib likens Kuwait to an Etch-a-Sketch where every time a new building phase comes in, they just raze everything before that time to the ground and start again.

We drove through the old shopping district from the 1960's, which was was very busy, and there were store owners who were fighting the new development scheduled to demolish their stores. There they were stubbornly hanging on, lights on, store full of merchandise, and above (and sometime beside them), the buildings were being torn down. Rebar hung from crumbling cinder blocks next to a brightly lit store full of toys.

On the waterfront in Kuwait City, there are buildings from the early 20th century of one or two stories, with the sky scrapers of early 21st century Kuwait towering behind them. Right on the water front is a new mall with many many fake wind towers decorating it by way of asserting its traditional right to be a shopping area that contributes to national identity.

While we were having our architectural tour of downtown Kuwait City, a dust storm complete with thunder and lightening blew in. The wind whipped up while we were visiting some of the traditional buildings and all we saw was the tops of the trees blowing, but as we got out on the street, the dust surrounded us. Visibility was 100 feet, but none of the shoppers quit shopping. On the way back to the hotel, I asked to be let off at the supermarket to get some cleaning supplies for the hotel room (we have slightly different habits from housekeeping when it comes to cleaning), and I walked home in the wind and dust. It was actually not so bad, and nobody else on the street seemed to notice that there was anything going on. I took a hint from the crowds on the street, wrapped up, and joined them in taking no notice.

But on the topic of change, it seems that Kuwait is in a cultural crossroads when it comes to how to remember history. There is the pre-oil history to remember, there is the post-oil history, there is the invasion of 1990, and there is the continuing progress of modernity. Around the city, there are crumbling relics from the 60's, there is iconic architecture from the 70's, there is the urban development of the 80's , there is the reconstruction of the 90's, and there is the development of a "heritage industry" of the 00's. It is amazing to see everything all at once in one frame. Kuwait has a rich cultural history: it will be very interesting to see how the older generation who is all for moving on will reconcile how to remember with the younger generation who has grown up in the New Kuwait and might want to hold on to parts of it.