Gareth Doherty - Paradoxes of Green: Landscapes of a City-State

My first encounter with Bahrain was when I responded to an advertisement in Landscape Design, the journal of the Landscape Institute in London, which called for speakers on landscape architecture at a conference in Manama. It was 2003, and I had just returned to London from a semester teaching in Australia; the advertisement was by then a few months old. Although I replied immediately, the Bahrain Society of Engineers had already found a speaker for the conference, but invited me to teach a three-day course on landscape architecture the following year. My visit was to follow in May 2004, and one of the workshop participants, a prince from the royal family, first introduced me to Bahrains greenery on a nighttime drive around the palm groves on the west coast of the island. Thus started a curiosity about Bahrain that has stayed with me ever since. I found the multitude of green spaces in an incredibly arid landscape intriguing, and even more intriguing was the absence of an adequate translation of the word landscape into Arabic. I realized that rather than my teaching Bahrain about landscape, Bahrain would teach me.

Shortly after my introduction to Bahrain, I began doctoral studies at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and expanded on this initial encounter through classes in Arabic, Islam, Middle East ethnography, and political economy, and in due course my dissertation. First of all, I thank my adviser, Hashim Sarkis, for encouraging, facilitating, and guiding this research. My doctoral committee members, Steven Caton, Niall Kirkwood, and Charles Waldheim, have each been immensely encouraging and helpful throughout the process of researching, writing, and revising.

I also acknowledge my doctoral colleagues and friends, Rania Ghosn, El Hadi Jazairy, Antonio Petrov, Stephen Ramos, and Neyran Turan, for their intellectual stimulation. In the summer of 2006 we began an intense series of discussions on geography and design. We shared an adviser, Hashim Sarkis, and a frustration with scale. We asked why is it that design disciplinesarchitecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and urban planningall have a particular scalar focus? Our common interests led to the founding of the New Geographies journal. This book began in parallel with these discussions and uses ethnography of a color in a city-state as a way to overcome limitations of scale and better engage not just with the land but with the people who inhabit the land, which together comprise a landscape. In doing so, my goal is to challenge design disciplines to address color and engage with our various audiences (human and nonhuman). In dong so, we may find more ways for anthropologists and designers to collaborate.

The year I spent in Bahrain brought me into contact with countless Bahraini voices. Those who helped me in so many ways, directly and indirectly, are far too numerous to mention here, but are all personally remembered.

Thanks to the various ministries in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. At the Ministry of Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs, Sheikh Hamad Mohamed al-Khalifa and his team were gracious and welcoming. Dr. Maher Abouseif and Ahmed al-Jowder introduced me to lemon tea over many conversations at the ministry. Dr. Falah al-Khubaisy showed great kindness and invited me back to Bahrain on subsequent visits. Dominic McPolin, my compatriot, was also very generous with his time.