It was a real treat to read Farah Al Nakib’s book: Kuwait Transformed: A History of Oil and Urban Life. I’ve captured some of my thoughts in a recently published review piece, excerpts are below:
Al-Nakib vividly depicts the economic, social, and political interactions occurring in the port, the suq (market), the mixed-class firjan (neighborhoods), and the homes of pre-oil Kuwait town. Urban life in that era is described as characterized by diversity of place and people, simultaneity of activities in spaces, spontaneity, engagement with difference, and a sense of need which strengthened social relatedness. This changed with the advent of oil, with affluence removing the sense of need and allowing community members to exist in physical and social isolation from one another. In other words, the small maritime town of Kuwait possessed more of the aspects of cosmopolitan urbanity than the post-oil, suburban city of Kuwait with its physically and socially segregated spaces. This is similar to Saskia Sassen’s critique of mega development projects in cities, which raise density but destroy the finer grain of streets and squares effectively de-urbanising city neighbourhoods.
The success of the port economy in Kuwait town was dependent on the friendly and accepting nature of its society. The town attracted immigrants from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, to the extent that its cultural identity was defined by the hybrid of languages, customs, and tastes harmoniously coexisting. As highlighted by Al-Nakib, this stands in glaring contrast to ethnically and spatially segregated Kuwait of today and to the post-oil identity narrative in the region’s cities which is centered around a singular national identity.
Full review article at The Nature of Cities