Talk:Slavery in Qatar

Wiki Education assignment: MIT 398 Intercultural International Communication

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 20 August 2023 and 5 December 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Noora shams (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Noora shams (talk) 18:30, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Needs major revision

Many of the claims are not supported by the cited sources, which sometimes refer to 'Arabia' or 'Persian Gulf' as a general practice but cannot be attributed to practices unique to Qatar specifically, which makes it probably more apt to title this page 'Slavery in the Persian Gulf'.

The page could also do with some trimming as there's a lot of repetition going on. Catofminerva (talk) 12:18, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

The sources confirms that some practices were common for slavery in the Gulf. That includes Qatar. They are therefore applicable for Qatar. Each country in the Gulf have their own page dedicated to the slavery for each individual country, and so they should. Since this is a sensitive subject with potential for bias, we must be very careful for all attempts to minimize the subject by deleting information of general practices common for all countries in the region, or merging the history of several countries in to one. --Aciram (talk) 13:12, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Interesting anecdote

"On another cold winter visit as I sat on the floor it was noticed I had on nylon stockings. The slaves pulled up my dress to see them and how they fitted and were fascinated, so next time I went I took the Sheika her first pair of nylons. The slaves were not freed in Qatar until about 1952 when the British government gave £4 million to free them. So the money was transferred and the slaves sent out of the houses and the palace and the doors locked for the night. When they were opened in the morning, they went right back in. Where were they to go? What were they going to do?" https://www.robertehill.co.uk/the-middle-east/qatar/maureens-memories-of-qatar/

Not sure if any manumission statements are included in this entry btw. If I have time I will look through them (much but not all are publicly available through the Qatar Digital Library). Some can be found in Qatar There are many interesting stories recorded. The negotiations between the Sheikh and the British (which the above anecdote oversimplifies) should also be included if they are not. Catofminerva (talk) 15:02, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Interesting! Please, feel free to add 2-3 manumission statements and personal stories of this kind, if you have the sources. They will give a more complete picture of the subject. Just make sure they are referenced correctly.--Aciram (talk) 15:08, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Can we stop generalising slavery practices in the Middle East

I removed reference that if a slave touched an Arab woman they would be executed. It does not make sense in Qatar. Most slaves were Arabs themselves and intermarriage is vastly documented. This practice is referenced to an early 20th-century Orientalist traveler describing tribes in Iraq; a single, probably biased and context-specific source. This is an important distinction if the statement is generalised to Qatar without direct evidence or similar documented practices in Qatar. I cannot find documentation from historical records that confirm the same practices were prevalent among the Qatar tribes. The Arab world is not monolithic. Practices in one area cannot automatically be presumed to occur in another without direct evidence. When I disputed something similar before on this page, I was told that it is reasonable to infer that practices cited in the Gulf apply to Qatar, too. Catofminerva (talk) 14:43, 30 August 2024 (UTC)

You can not remove referenced information. You can not remove referenced information because you disagree with it; and certainly not because it contradict your own original research. Wikipedia todes not uese original research: that is against wikipedia rules. Wikipedia only uses information from achademic books, not directly from archives searched by individial contributors. You may have any opinion about the information as you wish. You may not personally find it reasonable, you may find it insulting, or that is contradict your personal research in archives. But if the information have a good reference, you can not remove it. It is against wikipedia rules. I will therefore put it back. Do not remove it again. Thank you. --Aciram (talk) 19:17, 31 August 2024 (UTC)

Thank you so much. Was the custom practiced by tribes in Qatar? Catofminerva (talk) 15:07, 1 September 2024 (UTC)