The Unspoken Narratives of the Empty Quarter

Citation: Mhmood, Fatma. 2021. The Unspoken Narratives of the Empty Quarter. Master's thesis, Harvard Graduate School of Design.

The desert, commonly understood as a barren and infertile landscape, is
not empty. This thesis aims to foster a critical understanding of 'fullness' within the Empty Quarter desert (Rub al-Khali in Arabic). The Empty Quarter desert stretches across the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula including Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The thesis draws from multiple sources including archival materials, historic maps, artworks, field observation, myths and tribal poetry to build a better understanding of the Empty Quarter’s ecosystem. Theoretically, it engages with broader discussions on arid lands, environmental and social imaginaries, postcolonial and urban theories.