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Domains of Privacy and Hospitality in Arab Gulf Homes
Rana Sobh, Qatar University, Qatar
Russell Belk, York University, Canada
This paper reports findings of an ethnographic study of homes in the Arab Gulf country of Qatar. Our analysis and contribution
focuses on the tension between privacy and hospitality in Qatari homes in the context of identity threats posed by being a minority in
their native land and by an influx of Western modernity. By developing an understanding of the privacy/hospitality dialectic in Qatar,
we provide insights into how these values are incorporated or resisted in the design and use of family homes in a modern era of
increasing globalism.
[to cite]:
Rana Sobh and Russell Belk (2011) ,"Domains of Privacy and Hospitality in Arab Gulf Homes", in AP - Asia-Pacific Advances
in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Zhihong Yi, Jing Jian Xiao, and June Cotte and Linda Price, Duluth, MN : Association for
Consumer Research, Pages: 88-90.
[url]:
http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1008994/volumes/ap09/AP-09
[copyright notice]:
This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in
part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/.
Domains of Privacy and Hospitality in Arab Gulf Homes
Rana Sobh, Qatar University, Qatar*
Russell W. Belk, York University, Canada
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Cultural and symbolic meanings of spaces within homes
have been extensively studied in the West (e.g., Becker 1977;
Bryson 2010; Duncan 1996; Gallagher 2006; Garber 2000;
Kron 1983; Marcus 1995; Munro and Madigan 1999; Pink
2004; Taylor 1999). Little comparable work has been done in
Arab-Islamic societies. Homes have been the locus of
adaptation in Muslim societies for centuries (Campo 1991).
The question that begged our attention is how Arab-Islamic
houses and their meanings are defined in a modern global era.
What remains of their former religious and cultural meanings
and what has been altered by global forces and Western
lifestyles? In particular, how has an infusion of wealth
affected the symbolism and meanings attributed to the
domestic space among Qataris. ? We attempt to answer these
questions by focusing on the tension between privacy and
hospitality as encoded in Qatari households. Qatar and the
Gulf States in general offer a unique context compared to
other Arab-Islamic countries for several reasons: 1) Qatar is a
society that requires strong adherence to traditional values
and social norms, as seen for instance in the head to toe
covering of women in black and men in white, 2) Qataris
have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, and
3) Qataris are a minority in their own country due to the
dramatic presence of foreigners from both Western and NonWestern cultures (only 16% of Qatar population are Qataris).
The latter condition creates a fear of dilution of ethnic
identity among locals since there is pressure on them to
acculturate to the immigrant rather than the more normal
reverse situation.
Our study involved observation and in-depth interviews
with twenty four middleclass home-owning Qatari families
living in Doha. The interviews discussed the meanings of
home, favorite areas of the home, situations in which these
spaces are used, usage patterns by other family members, and
so forth. Projective exercises included metaphorical
descriptions (e.g., ―If my home was an animal, it would be…)
and audio and visual elicitation (based on photographs of
various areas of the home, taken with informant permission,
and audio and video recordings of the interviews and
observations).
Interviews and visual data revealed a significant
perceived need for privacy by Qataris as encoded and
reflected in the architecture, design, and preferred styles of
homes. Such a focus on privacy in Qatari homes is to a large
extent tied to the perceived need to protect women‘ s sanctity
and keep her body away from strangers‘ gaze. In all homes
visited, the space designated as private was for the family
(husband, wife and children) as well as female visitors. The
public or communal area, the majles, was for men and their
male visitors. The men‘s majles is a cultural symbol of Arab
hospitality, pride, and honor. It is seen as an essential part of
male hospitality rituals; a space where men entertain and
socialize with other men and which should be open at all
times.
The evident desire for and emphasis on privacy in Qatari
homes seemingly presents a contradiction to the revered
hospitality of the Arab Gulf culture. How could hospitality,
defined by some as the fundamental openness to the other
(Kuokkanen 2003), be of such central value for people whose
homes are surrounded by high perimeter walls with strictly
secured gates amongst other symbols that sharply separate the
private and public domains? To resolve this seeming
contradiction we need to go back to the underlying meaning
of privacy in Arab-Islamic culture. The notion of privacy in
the Arab-Islamic paradigm is largely related to the
requirement of modest self-presentation for Muslims in public
and particularly women. As such, privacy in the home aims to
provide women with the reserve and convenience they need
to allow being uncovered and away from the public gaze.
Women embody morality and virtue in Arab Islamic culture.
Their respected privacy is instrumental to the honor and
reputation of the whole family and clan (Torstrick and Faier
2009). Therefore, the underlying meaning of privacy in the
Arab-Islamic culture is respect and not seclusion. It is
collectivistic and ―public‖ in nature and does not conflict with
the emphasis put on hospitality in Qatari homes. On the
contrary, hospitality is another main driver of family and
tribal reputation for which women also bear a major
responsibility. In addition to gaining reputation by showing
generosity (karam in Arabic) in entertaining her women
guests, a woman is also expected to help her husband,
brothers or father to gain fame and reputation for hospitability
in the community by preparing sumptuous food and drinks for
their male guests and sometimes by contributing financially
to entertain guests in the best possible way not to bring shame
and bad reputation to the family.
However, the problematic relationship between
emphasized visual and non-visual domains of privacy on one
hand and the centrality of hospitality in Qatari society on the
other hand is worth discussing in the context of the
relationship between the local and the foreigner in Qatar. The
de facto integration versus segregation of Qataris and nonQatari residents of Qatar presents another glaring apparent
contradiction to Arab hospitality inasmuch as few non-Qataris
are visitors in Qatari homes.
While the skin can be seen as defining cultural boundary
between the self and the world (Smith 2003), the Qatari home
defines spiritual and cultural boundaries between the family,
its privacy, and the Other. The underlying meaning of
hospitality is openness and incorporation of the other into the
private family domain and self. The sharp physical and
symbolic separation of the family private domain from the
public sphere can be seen as attempts to reinforce cultural
boundaries between the ―authentic‖ and ―pure‖ domestic
sphere and the impure contaminated public sphere
increasingly dominated by the presence of foreigners or the
‗Other‘.
In line with Shove (2003), fumigating and
perfuming the home seems to provide local Gulf people with
powerful symbolic means for imposing ethnic boundaries
between them and ‗invading‘ foreigners, as well as creating a
positive good smelling ambiance for guests.
As the inflection point of intimate contact between host
and guest, self and other, local and global, Qatari and non-
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Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 9) / 89
Qatari, and friend and stranger, both hospitality rituals and the
privacy ethos define and encode the relationship between
Qatar‘s minority hosts who are threatened by a loss of
identity and their majority guests who remain strangers
despite their numeric dominance. With its more collectivist
orientation and strong gendered protectionism, the gulf may
place more emphasis on both constructs than other cultures
and may enact them in culture-specific ways, but the same
constructs can be found in homes elsewhere. Contemporary
cultures must decide how to work out the balance of privacy
and hospitality.
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