Sharjah (Al Ittihad)
A cultural session held by the Cultural Café during the Sharjah Heritage Days confirmed that creativity and innovation among the people of the Emirates is neither a spur of the moment nor a new phenomenon.
The session was titled “Creativity and Sustainability of Heritage”, in which the researcher and economic advisor, Dr. Najeeb Al Shamsi, the journalist and researcher in Emirati heritage and popular culture, Abdullah Abdul Rahman, and the poet Sheikha Al-Mutairi participated in it, and it was moderated by Muhammad Hamdan from the Sharjah Heritage Institute.
Dr. Najeeb Al Shamsi stressed the importance of creativity as a main element and a central theme linked to the core of the concept of heritage, its practices and its various manifestations. He explained that creativity and innovation represent the ground upon which plans and milestones for the development of heritage, both tangible and intangible, are based. He pointed to the emergence and spread of many creative industries related to human action and the transfer of ideas into practical practices, such as the traditional crafts for which the UAE is famous, as well as the conversion of ideas and popular heritage into creative cultural products such as books, poems and novels. He pointed out that there are many common features related to folklore between the Arab countries and the world, pointing out that many of the popular games practiced by grandparents and parents and practiced by the current generation have great similarities in terms of features, features and methods with their counterparts in many parts of the world such as the Eskimo peoples and Latin America. This indicates that people in Emirati society are distinguished by their innovative and creative mentality, which is enriched by their daily needs. He stated that the roots of the UAE’s renaissance and development are far from ancient and are not related to the emergence of oil, but are related to man, his activity, his rich mobility, and his response to the requirements of living in different local environments, each according to its elements and specificity. Bedouin, agricultural or rural environment, and finally the coastal or marine environment.
Al Shamsi noted the need to develop and organize general frameworks for the close relationship between creativity and heritage, and to intensify efforts to achieve comprehensive sustainability in development with all its elements, constituents and types, on top of which is cultural development, and to present creative local products that convey the image of the Emirati to the outside and affect it positively, and establish the concepts and values of pride in our traditions and authentic values. He pointed out that openness to others does not necessarily mean abandoning cultural values and principles, citing the example of the economic and commercial renaissance that China is witnessing, and that it has become a country with a wide influence in the world, without exaggerating its culture and popular heritage.
Abdullah Abdul Rahman’s paper came under the title “Towards a Sustainable Legacy”, and in conjunction with the Year of Sustainability raised by our wise leadership as a slogan organizing the initiatives of the country and its various emirates in 2023, including the Sharjah Heritage Days, in an effort to serve the earth and man as one of the goals of human existence. During his speech, the lecturer raised a number of important questions about defining the concept of sustainability in Emirati heritage, and how to preserve its vitality and permanence despite the succession of generations and the change of means, ends and conditions, calling for the necessity of stripping heritage of appearances, phenomena, stereotypes and usual patterns associated with time and other circumstances, in order to Access to the desired knowledge construction of this heritage.
Abdullah Abdul Rahman reviewed a side of human suffering in the past on the land of the Emirates and the rest of the Arab Gulf regions, in view of the harshness of environmental and climate factors, the scarcity of natural and economic resources, and their compelling to wade into the depths of the sea in search of its treasures and bounties, in a way that fulfills their living needs, as well as their endeavor to acquire living knowledge that is passionate about the details of places and their inhabitants. from other organisms.
The lecturer stated that the true heritage stems from the knowledge structure that stems from our lofty values and our sound instincts that bind man to the place and enrich the relationship between them, explaining that the sustainability of this cumulative knowledge structure inherited through generations is achieved through renewed creativity with the renewal and diversity of means, and by drawing inspiration from the meanings and wisdom inherited over time. Transferring it to an ambitious creative soul supported by institutional and national effort, and demonstrating it through literary, artistic, research and craft works that preserve the heritage, keep pace with the present, and anticipate the future.
The poet Sheikha Al-Mutairi’s paper focused on the creative experience of the Juma Al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage in restoring and preserving ancient manuscripts and making them available to interested and researchers. condition and verify its origin.
She stated that previous civilizations framed science through the written material by human hands that gave it care and attention, and that history includes references to the existence of primitive attempts and experiments to restore manuscript writings from ancient times, which helped in the arrival and preservation of some of the origins of these manuscripts.
The lecturer enumerated part of the center’s efforts to sustain this paper heritage, by researching plants in the Emirates and trying to extract natural fibers from them and dye them in natural colors that match the colors of the manuscript paper, leading to the production of a paste that helps restore the manuscript, in addition to the center’s use of new methods and resources to protect Manuscripts of rodents, small insects, humidity conditions, heat effects, and the like. The center took the initiative to use palm fronds in the paper industry, and obtained a registered patent, in addition to using a new thermal device dedicated to sterilizing manuscript paper, a device or container for washing dishes and using them in a technical way designed to deal with parchment paper, and a thermal transmission device repelling insects of very small sizes. . She pointed out that the center produced 5 devices in the fields of restoration and sterilization, and two devices in the fields of digitizing manuscripts, concluding her paper by talking about the workshops and training courses offered by the center for those interested in this aspect.
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