SHARJAH // Mona Al Ali used to think the only way people could learn anything was at school – until she got a job with Sharjah Museums Department (SMD).
The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
Now, museums form an important part of the 33-year-old Emirati’s life.
Dr Al Ali, from Umm Al Quwain, says: “It’s funny how I got interested in it in the first place, because I did my BA in English at Zayed University’s College of Education and I got a scholarship to do a masters [degree] in education in Auckland, New Zealand. When I came back, I was offered a job in the education department of Sharjah Museum, which includes 16 museums.”
Dr Al Ali, the manager of academic programmes at SMD, became immersed in a fascinating world.
“I always thought of it as something temporary until I found a job in the Ministry of Education, which is where I wanted to be,” she says. “Then I got a role as a museum professional at the Emirates Foundation, as part of a short course in collaboration with the John F Kennedy University in the US.”
On its completion, the foundation asked if she was interested in taking a PhD in museum studies at the University of Leicester, UK.
“I thought it would be a good opportunity because, when I worked in Sharjah, I always noticed there weren’t many UAE nationals or residents who would come to the museum as a place to spend their weekend, leisure time or just to have fun. That’s why I decided to pursue it,” she says.
As her studies progressed, Dr Al Ali decided to try to make other Emiratis start seeing museums in the same light she did.
“It opened my eyes to see education in a totally different way,” she says.
“When I did my BA, I always thought I’d go back to school to teach. I even did my internship at a high school in UAQ.
“But this showed me that education is not only about schools. There are other ways where people can gain knowledge and information, where it’s a more informal way.
“This includes museums, libraries or other cultural organisations, which we have a lot of in the UAE.”
Now the head of Sharjah Museums’ research department, Dr Al Ali’s aim is to change the way Emiratis and residents view the country’s museums, and their role in promoting Emirati culture and history.
In her bid to make museums more popular, she is researching why people might not think of them in terms of a good way to spend their time.
“It was difficult research because there wasn’t much academic material on it, so I had to use a lot of western theories to see if they worked or not.
“In the UAE, we have a very unique culture and it’s totally different to the western one. For instance, a special social class in the West visits museums, while I couldn’t find very accurate social classification here.”
Instead, Dr Al Ali says, most people in the UAE spend a lot of their free time in malls and restaurants.
But attitudes can be changed.
“There is a huge potential for people to get interested in museums,” she says. “The problem isn’t them coming to the museum, it’s them coming back. I want to develop that idea for people to look at it as a place for collective memories, social purpose, where we can promote human rights and include voices of the community. It will help them see the history, build their identity, and have more connection with older generations.”
cmalek@thenational.ae
