Qatar’s Evolving National Identity in Schools: A Twitter Perspective from 2015 to 2019

This paper aims to address the issue of how schools are used as tools to instill the state’s vision of its own national identity. This thesis examines to explore nationalism in education through the prism of social media. This study aims to examine how nationalism has changed in Qatar from 2015–2019. The tweets of thirty Qatari schools, both public and international, were collected each December from 2015–2019. Tweets regarding nationalism were collected, and content analysis was performed on posts, including text, photos, and videos related to nationalism. The quantitative findings showed that the majority of schools tweeted more on nationalism from 2017–2019 (post-blockade). While the overall school twitter activity decreased over the years, the percentage of tweets by schools on nationalism remained high throughout the years, suggesting that it has remained an important topic post-blockade. Also, primary schools tended to tweet more than preparatory schools, while public schools tweet more on nationalism than international schools. The qualitative findings indicated three main changes: social, economic, and political. Social changes include a) Qatar’s shift from a national collectivistic tribal society to the inclusion and embracing of other nationalities in 2017, b) the shift in the schools' messaging on national from being focused solely on patriotic service to the state to the promotion of community service and self-development values post-2017, c) the shift in the roles of the Qatari female national identity during national celebrations from the more traditional to the modern, d) increased use of digital media reinforcing a national ‘imagined community.’ Also, politically, there have changes in how schools celebrate Qatar’s foreign policy during national celebrations, reflecting a recognition of Qatar as a state wishing to emphasize its multilateral connections. Finally, economically, the national promotion of Qatar’s economic self-sufficiency in schools was evident in national school celebrations during the 2017 crisis. These findings support the notion that during times of crisis, nationalism is articulated more strongly and mobilized as a response to an existential threat.