Hello, apologies for not sending out a newsletter last week, I caught a flight Friday from the UK and arrived home late that night, it was a busy weekend and an even busier week. You think while you’re away that you’ll somehow have a little more time, that people won’t be asking you things, but it is never the case, I didn’t even get through as much reading on the plane as I hoped, it was a change of pace certainly and to be in Doha was a wonderful adventure, but I have so much to catch up with and more coming up that I wonder how it will all get done.
I hope this isn’t busy bragging, I’m well aware that this is self-inflicted, that I struggle to say no to all the great opportunities that come my way, but you know, I’ll rest when I’m dead. It’s all good.
There’s more to say about my week in Qatar, and traveling home via the UK where I caught up with family and a few friends. I thought a little about this newsletter and how it needs to evolve, and perhaps a few words about some of those future plans.
Stephan
Teaching & Learning
It was lovely to catch up with my students this week, I feel as if I’ve neglected them and I’ve promised them that I’ll work hard through the remainder of the course to make every lesson a good one and reward their patience in these disruptive early weeks. I need to have a think about the courses that I’ll be doing next year, especially if I would like to go to Doha again. Certainly this past course was really great, some of the work is sensational and now that I’ve been there, I have a better idea about what can be achieved, the sorts of films that we might make and places we could explore.
I’m also wondering if a slightly longer course might work, one where we spend a little more time researching the cultural and language themes that form the basis for our films and immersive experiences. We reference this concept of a cultural iceberg1, with more visible signifiers of culture, for instance clothing, food, celebration, buildings, sitting above the water line, but we need to do more to investigate and write about what lies beneath, for instance, social attitudes, ethics, civility, concepts of fairness, work and play. In a country such as Qatar it might be challenging to talk about these things in a classroom much less make a film about say, attitudes to family responsibilities or notions of beauty for instance because many of these concepts are informed by religious interpretation and doctrine.
However, there are still ways to look at these subjects without needing to employ critique, this is a conversation that I had when I was there. It isn’t about adopting a relativist position, but I feel that so much comes from observing and documenting, that is useful dialogue. I’ll go so far as to say that we often short circuit cultural exploration to arrive at a position, that is often simply wrong or misjudged. Stories are windows into culture, and each one a different view. As I said last week, I think the students are very capable, they demonstrated excellent observation skills, they knew where to take their cameras. The most successful films showed place, left space, and crucially, for immersive film, for the viewer to take in what they were seeing.
It’s here in this film by Maha Almulla, using the GoPro Reframe plugin, to turn 360 footage into a 2D film. This is beautifully shot, and fascinating to watch, revealing a place so many have never seen, while capturing its tranquility and reverence.
Life Lessons
The last few days in Doha were spent finishing up classes, delivering a workshop and enjoying some more of the sites and even heading out beyond the city limits. I’m wondering what the city will look like when all the building work ends, or at least during the temporary pause of the World Cup. I saw so much scaffolding and plastic sheeting, and behind that peeks at fascinating and frankly outrageous architectural creations, a falcon hospital shaped like a falcon’s hood, a giant parcel, a recreation of a Parisienne street (Place Vendome), a Venetian canal with Gondola flowing through a shopping mall, buildings like sabres, zigzags, globes, towers, you name it… At night the buildings light up, animated, projections and flickering images.
A few evenings I visited the Souk Waqif, purchasing a few gifts for back home, going through the motions of haggling without being very successful at it. These narrow streets full of vendors and shoppers finding goods that ranged from textiles, scarfs, soft cashmere, sweets and dates, soccer shirts and traditional clothes, Tupperware, pots and pans, seeds, spices, rice and tinned fruits. It is a feast for the eyes, buzzing with activity, friendly and fun.
On my final day, I arranged a trip out to the desert, a hefty 4x4, picking me up from the hotel and driving a few hours out of the city to the south, past towns, villages, vast refineries until the roads ran out. My drive Razhim, a young Qatari showed off his dune bashing skills, bouncing and skipping through the sand. Music blaring, windows down like a fairground ride, pausing occasionally to take in the views. We traveling the inland sea, looking out across the water to the border with Saudi Arabia, then heading back towards the camp and the chance to swim in the sea.
We headed down the dune and turned right, but the wheels stuck sharp and we stopped, stuck. We got out of the car and our group bounced on the boards to try and get it moving but we had no room to turn and the wheels just sank deeper and deeper. Eventually another car rescued us while Razhim worked to free ours and joined us a little later to take us home. He was apologetic, but I told him not to worry, that it only added to the adventure.
The sea was beautiful, warm and salty, I swam as the sun set down behind the dunes, the last light almost purple in color and looked up into the sky, floating in the water and the night.
Thank you
Catching up with life around the world, there so many articles and stories that I read about, particularly about everything that is happening in the UK with the shambles of the new Prime Minister, but also the fight for rights and equality happening in Iran, also devastating hurricanes and fires. The world seems troubled as I fly over it. Maybe we can talk more in the next few weeks.
It is nice to be back and with family and friends, catching up and seeing people at last night’s high school soccer game it felt like more than a few weeks of being away. It is lovely to be home, being a taxi, ferrying and picking up, talking out about school and helping find things (because that’s what we have to do).
I’m well aware that this newsletter has take a little detour this year from its stated aims, it has become much more of diary. It wasn’t planned, I wanted to add a little more autobiographical detail but it has sort of taken over, so there will be a recalibration in the next few weeks. I still make lists of links, articles and interesting apps and tools I think you might like, so I’ll get back to publishing more of those and keep the chatter light. The midterms is coming up and thoughts are already turning to new projects, it is going to be busy right up until the end of the year.
I have a few things to sort out today, next week is Fall break for my students, so I’ll have the chance to write and prepare lessons for the remainder of the semester. There’s still another trip planned, more about that soon, but in the meantime, I hope that you’re well. Let me know what you’re up to. It’s so lovely to be with you again. Take care.
Hall, Edward Twitchell. 1989. Beyond Culture: Anchor.