Conspicuous Consumption in Katara

For this active blog, I went on a short trip to the cultural village we all know as Katara. Perhaps the most intriguing question one could ask regarding Katara is the following: Why is Katara considered one of the most popular places to hang out in Doha? This is the question I was bent on answering during my visit.

I drove over to what is probably the most well-known karak shop in Doha, Karak and Chapatti, which is approximately at the center of Katara. It is approximately at the Karak shop where you can pay 15 QR to have value parking, which people use if they cannot find any available parks or perhaps as a public display of wealth. As I was waiting for my order of sweet Chapattis and Karak, which costs around QR 7, over double the typical market price. I looked around me at the groups of people in their cars, some of whom were waiting for their orders just as I was, and others who were enjoying their freshly made Chapattis. What caught my attention immediately was that a large proportion of the total cars around had special plate numbers, and everyone knows that plate numbers are a big thing right now in Doha. A 4-digit plate number could easily sell for QR 100,000(equivalent to USD 36,500). I parked my car and went deeper inside the cultural village. Some of the restaurants that are available include Sukkar Basha, a fancy Lebanese restaurant, Saffron, an exquisite Indian restaurant, and El Wzaar, my all-time favorite seafood restaurant. All restaurants mentioned previously, including the ones that weren’t, are known to be luxurious dine-ins that offer top-notch service and mouth-watering cuisine.



At one end of Katara are the Shawarma and Kenaafa serving restaurants. Although I have never tried the Shawarma they have to offer, I did buy some a couple of times. One shawarma sandwich costs QR 15, which is about triple the price it is offered for in typical shawarma restaurants. Personally, I am not against buying a relatively expensive sandwich, but I do not think that it would taste significantly better than any other shawarma in the market.

To conclude, my observations during my visit to the cultural village known as Katara signal that the majority of what is displayed in Katara, which ranges from people in fancy cars with fancy plate numbers, to luxurious restaurants and priced-up snacks, is conspicuous consumption at its extremes. According to Wikipedia, conspicuous consumption is known as the “spending of money for and the acquiring of luxury goods and services to display economic power.” I am not saying that this behavior is necessarily a bad thing, I am merely acknowledging its natural existence in us as human beings who place emphasis on powerful appearance, and who take delight in enjoying the luxurious commodities life has to offer.

The World in A Cultural Village!

On the 6 of March, I attended a very unique event that was held in Qatar University, and which was more like a celebration of different cultures, uniting a wide range of diverse countries and nationalities into a small village, called as “The Cultural Village.”



The Cultural Village is a great student event that enriches the audience with activities representing the variety of cultural heritages at Qatar University. It takes place annually and is organized by QU Students under the supervision and guidance of the Student Activities Department.



The event’s main objective is to introduce its audience to the different cultures of QU Students who come from various parts of the globe. The village will include a number of booths, exhibitions, and several cultural activities that reflect the uniqueness of each culture as perceived by the participants through folkloric shows, music, traditional customs, and plays. The best of all, this event is open to the public.





According to sociology, such event as considered a multi-cultural activity can be described using the Interaction Theory. It helps create cultural diffusion, which is the spreading of cultural traits, products, ideas, or behaviors from one culture to another. It is also a great opportunity for people coming from different countries to reflect their cultures by doing interesting and fun activities. Cultural village allows social and cultural interaction with a large, diverse audience and prevents any kinds of cultural gaps or stereotypes.



In addition to that, the Cultural Village is a great chance for the students to introduce themselves and know each other. It allows you to live between cultures and experience different countries’ norms and traditions by just setting there and having the spirit to observe and cheer.





What is also special about this event is that it is a great environment for the students to show off their talents and special capabilities, which helps enhance their self-confidence and leaves positive impressions on their community. I was really impressed by the students’ potentials as some of them were casting poems and speeches that they wrote by themselves. Others were acting, dancing, singing, and playing different musical instruments. In short, I can describe the Cultural Village as a fun and exciting way to travel around the world and explore different cultures and identities.

This video is one of the great performances done in the event, which is a Palestinian traditional dance called "Dabkeh."

Katara, our own "cultural" village

When I first heard that a place called Katara, cultural village, was going to open in Qatar I imagined that it would only include events and restaurants related to Qatari culture. But I figured out I was completely wrong as soon as I entered Katara as the first place that you see is an italian ice cream shop, La Gelateria Fina, where people are crowding around the ice cream parlor trying to decide on their preferred flavor.

As I continued walking, I noticed there was a variety of restaurants that were all on the left-hand side of the walk and each of them served food from different countries; which included Indian, Egyptian and Turkish. Inside each on of the restaurants there are ornaments and cultural objects that complete the traditional atmosphere that the restaurant tries to enhance.

Opposite to the restaurants there are different stands where local Qatari men and women sit and practice a particular craft. I went to cultural village on saturday and I also went on saturday a week before that and both times I went, I realized there were different stands and different craft every week. On the first saturday there were different stands about fishing, which included making the nets and getting the pearls. Last saturday the main focus was on traditional qatari clothing, the art of sewing and spices. In the first stand there was a qatari woman sitting on the floor working with her large needles and threads, making beautiful tapestries and cloth hangings.

The other stand had traditional qatari clothing for both men and females and the jewelry that would usually compliment the clothes.

There are a variety of different spices that are put in Qatari food. In one of the stands there were a few spices that were displayed and the way those spices were made was also shown by a local qatari man, who was sitting in the store.

Instruments used to make spices.

There are also performances that occur on weekends that are both by international countries and by Qataris. When I was at Katara there was both a european band playing on a stage and a qatari band performing local songs that was playing on another stage.

A group of Qatari men playing traditional khaleeji songs on arabic instruments.

Only a few meters away there was another stage where a European band was playing a completely different style of music.