IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B

Abstract

Mapping Migration Memories, is a multiyear research project under the (IN)>TANGIBLE_LAB at the Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts in Qatar. The Lab is gathering existing archived recorded memories and is seeking out unrecorded memories of the biannual Qatari migration from sea to desert and back. This mass movement of people, in synch with the turning of the planet and the shifting of the seasons, now exists as oral history and archived footage. The Lab is looking at the walk itself — not the sea and not the desert camps — but the paths taken. The research team of four students and two faculty, are currently creating the literature and contextual review of archived and exhibited documentation of the biannual migration. The team is co-creating a bilingual questionnaire to be shared with Qatari families. The goal to is source, collect, translate, transcribe and visualize migration memories into physical maps which in turn will be re-enacted and filmed in the desert in the Fall of 2022 and exhibited and presented in early 2023. The ultimate goal of this project is to have the opportunity to pitch a well designed proposal for a permanent pedestrian / bike path to be created, which will serve as a poetic and participatory living history pathway. A Qatari pilgrimage, preserving and extending this annual tradition through slow tourism, which will in turn promote health and cultural sustainability.