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The Cultural Awareness Project
Muneer Mohammad Al Wadi, Teaching Assistant of Math, Foundation Program
Tales of Qatari Heritage are a set of inspir-
ing local folktales, legends and stories that
comprise important parts of Qatar’s cul-
tural legacy. This unique project was led
by Jeffrey Maggard. It involved more than
20 Foundation Program Department of
English (FPDE) faculty, who worked as
members of the Cultural Awareness Team,
and over 100 students. The student volun-
teers participated in faculty-led workshops
on oral storytelling collection and narrative
writing.
The students then went to elders in their
communities to collect, transcribe, edit,
and translate more than 50 unique stories.
Students were asked to collect stories that
were local, championed local axiology,
highlighted moral lessons, and demon-
strated Islamic values. The stories were
then illustrated by twenty Foundation Pro-
gram student artists as well as illustrators
from Qatar University’s Alumni Association
Sketch Chapter (AASC).
Participating in the project required stu-
dents to hone their skills as narrators, au-
thors and illustrators. Moreover, the stu-
dents developed their language, research,
translation, and narrative writing skills.
These tasks added to their cultural
knowledge, bilingual literacy, creativity,
and most of all, their knowledge of how to
preserve and disseminate intangible cul-
tural artifacts.
Twenty-two original tales were selected as
a representative of Qatar’s cultural legacy.
Along with the original artwork, the project
preserves largely forgotten gems of Qatari
folklore. The
Cultural Aware-
ness Team
hope that you
will enjoy read-
ing this unique
collection of
Qatari stories,
folktales, and
legends.
The Song of the Warrior: By Fatma Eisa I A Al-Mohannadi
A person who does not know the
value of a falcon will grill it: By Deena
Ahmad Alfalasi
Gheelan: By Sara Ah-
med Mohamed Abdel-
monem