Walter Dostal was an influential figure in German-speaking cultural and social anthropology in the second half of the 20th century. He spent extended periods of time on the Arabian Peninsula, where he studied the everyday life, social relationships and traditions of the local people and documented this with his camera.

After the dark years of the Nazi regime, he strongly advocated a fundamental renewal and internationalisation of cultural and social anthropology.

At the University of Bern, he was a dean and first chair of the newly founded Department of Ethnology. In Vienna, he worked as a curator of the Middle East department at the Museum für Völkerkunde (now: Weltmuseum Wien). He later became a professor of cultural and social anthropology at the University of Vienna.

As a full member of the ÖAW, Walter Dostal paved the way for today's Institute of Social Anthropology. In his research, he focussed primarily on ethnography and social anthropology in the Middle East, especially in Yemen, Oman, south-western Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and Anatolia. Walter Dostal left his photographic collection to the ÖAW as a donation in his will. 

Walter Dostal's documentation of Yemeni everyday cultures is unique in several ways. Unlike many previous explorers to Yemen, who took large quantities of material artefacts and manuscripts out of the country during the imperial and colonial era, Walter Dostal's sensitive and respectful visual documentation leaves their objects in their original context.

The focus on the everyday life of craftspeople, farmers and traders also makes his collection unique, as it shows not the elites but the everyday life of the common people.

The collection offers a fascinating glimpse into the material culture, architecture, labour and crafts, customs, lifestyles and popular forms of expression in Yemen. At the time, Yemen was in the midst of social, political and economic upheaval. These upheavals were triggered by the revolution in North Yemen (1962) and independence from British rule in South Yemen (1968).

Among the most fascinating aspects of this collection is that it reflects the central and powerful position of women in Yemeni society. Many of the images document women's activities in crafts and production processes, particularly in the fields of pottery, basketry and textile production. The collection of photographs highlights the importance of the technical knowledge and craftsmanship of the female part of the population.

His photographs further focus on pre-industrial architecture, building techniques and settlement forms in Yemen and neighbouring areas. Walter Dostal was interested in how the physical characteristics and aesthetic design of buildings and settlements reflect social order, societal hierarchies and the impact of ecological factors.

With his research and publications, Walter Dostal has made a significant contribution to the cultural and social anthropology of the Arabian Peninsula. The ongoing digitisation and exploration of this valuable collection contributes to the preservation of this unique cultural heritage and makes it accessible to the public.

The selection of photographs presented in the Kulturpool is part of Professor Walter Dostal's extensive estate. The photo selection can be downloaded via the ARCHE link below (long-term archiving repository of the Austrian Academy of Sciences). In the research programme “History of Asian Ethnographies” of the Institute of Social Anthropology, the collection will be further processed, enriched and in the future it will be published in the catalogue of the Austrian Academy of Sciences with extended search functions.