Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula

Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula examines the recent and rapid development of museums in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. These states are dynamically involved in establishing museums to preserve and represent their distinct national culture and heritage, and Museum Studies literature has struggled to keep up. Contextualising this study in the history and politics of the region, this in-depth overview and critical analysis of museums in the Arabian Peninsula stands alone as an entry into this important topic. Museums Studies students and museum professionals now have a book that fills an important gap in the picture of the museum worldwide.

Karen Exell is Honorary Senior Research Associate at UCL Qatar. She has over 15 years' experience of museums and heritage, and has been teaching museum studies in Qatar for the past four years and advising on the development of regional museum projects. Prior to this she worked as a curator and lecturer in the UK. Karen's research interests include the role and meaning of museums outside the West, and museums and the construction of knowledge.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Questions of Globalisation, Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula Chapter 2: Building Nations in a Modern Middle East Chapter 3: Staging Identity in a Globalised World Chapter 4: Universal Art Museums in the Arabian Peninsula Chapter 5: Knowledge Production in the Realm of Culture Chapter 6: 'We are not people of the city': Narratives of Purity and Exclusion Chapter 7: Oil, Conflict and Memory in the Arabian Peninsula: Private Collections and Museums Chapter 8: '... [T]his shifting present which we call the future'