Craft in Qatar

One of the field trips during my residency at VCUQ took us to a neighbourhood looking for repairers, woodworkers, and tailors. Some of them agreed to talk to the group of students about their trade, background and worldview. I had an experience arguably different from that which other foreigners typically have in Qatar - with the high rises and shopping malls.

Most of the repairers seemed to be over 50 years old, often more. My photos don't show it that much, but their hands were central characters of that visit. As well as their tools and equipment. The student's pictures collected in the publication draft show it better.

I wondered what would happen over time to those roles - along with their skills and lived experience - after they retire or decide to go out of business. One of the students reflected that "the country can bring more guest workers from abroad whenever needed". It sounds quite trivial, in a place with enough economic resources to import labour at will. Even workers in fields that require years of practical experience are easily replaceable. Such renewal usually happens, however, under very strict conditions. Work permits are very sought of on other countries. One guy I talked to on another occasion said that he had sold his car back in Bangladesh to pay for the work permit, and got the money back in a few months only.

One of the shoe repairers also said that nowadays nobody in Qatar buys handmade sandals from them anymore, as was customary in the past. People now "drive their AC cars to the mall and buy imported sandals that look just like ours, or worse". He said that most of his income these days comes from soldiers, who are given only one pair of boots for the whole period of military service and need to bring them to repair often.

Here is a vide of a shoe repairer in action: