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ABSTRACT
This paper examines the dynamics between different social groups within Kuwait’s society, specifically focusing on the majority Arab population and the minority Ajam group originating from Iran. The Ajam community is distinct from the Arabs in terms of ethnicity and religious beliefs, with the majority of them identifying as Shiʿi Muslims while the majority of Kuwaitis are Sunni Muslims. Although the Ajam community has integrated into Kuwaiti society, speaking Arabic and sharing similar daily lives, their acceptance was not always the case. In the past, they were considered outsiders and faced hostility from Arab nationalists, the dominant political groups in Kuwait during the previous century. This paper conducts an analysis of the discourse employed by Arab nationalists towards the Ajam community in the 1960s, utilizing the Arab nationalist weekly newspaper, al-Taliʿa, as a case study. This analysis involves contextualizing the discourse and linking it to Kuwait’s state formation and the Ajam community’s status within the country. Through an examination of over 250 issues of the newspaper published between 1962 and 1968, the study demonstrates that Kuwaiti Ajam were framed as ‘Others’, targeted based on their country of origin and ethnicity and viewed as potential threats to the nation.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank Michael Herb, Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, and Lisa Blaydes for their valuable suggestions on the earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Anh Nga Longva, Walls Built on Sand: Migration, Exclusion, and Society in Kuwait, (Boulder, CL.: Westview Press, 1996), 21.
2 Farah al-Nakib, Kuwait Transformed: a History of Oil and Urban Life, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016), 12.
3 Mohammad al-Habib, ʾIdhaʾat tarikhiyya lishakhsiyyat Kuwaitiyya [Historical lights on Kuwaiti figures], vol.1, (Beirut: Awal Center for Studies and Documentation, 2017), 305.
4 ‘Nationality Law, 1959’. Reworld, https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4ef1c.html.
5 For example, a former minister, Jasim al-ʿAun, advocates for this idea. See: https://twitter.com/SnaaNews/status/1459606152724062208.
6 ‘ʾIstijwāb ṭarthūthī [A ṭarthūthī (a plant) impeachment]’, al-Watan Newspaper. https://alwatan.kuwait.tt/articledetails.aspx?id=193029&yearquarter=20122.
7 Shaykha al-Bahawid, ‘Riḥlat al-baḥth ʿan al-hawiyya al-Kuwaytiyya: liqāʾ maʿa Adil al-Ziwawi’, Manshoor, accessed December 11, 2023, https://manshoor.com/politics-and-economics/kuwaiti-identity-groupof80/.
8 ‘Maqṭaʿ min nadwat al-nāʾib Muhammad al-Juwayhil tārīkh 30/1/2012’. YouTube video, 19:58/Posted by ‘alm6rf’,January 30, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb604IbuRLc.
9 al-Bahawid.
10 Falah al-Mdaires, al-Haraka al-shiʿiyya fī al-Kuwait [the Shiʿi movement in Kuwait] (Kuwait: Dār Qurṭās Linnashr, 1999), 20.
11 See issues 13 and 15 of al-Iman. Also see issues 4 and 6 of the 6th year, 1 and 2 of the 7th, 1, 2, 4, 5 of 8th year of al-Biʾtha.
13 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London and New York: Verso, 2006).
14 Daniele Conversi, ‘Modernism and nationalism’, Journal of Political Ideologies 17, no. 1 (2012): 14.
15 Craig Calhoun, ‘Nationalism and Ethnicity’, Annual Review of Sociology 19 (1993): 211.
16 Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 206.
17 Ibid., 208–209.
18 Ibid., 209.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid., 208.
21 Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, Psycho-nationalism: Global Thought, Iran Imaginations (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 1.
22 Ibid., 1.
23 Ibid., 2.
24 Ibid., 11.
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., 13.
27 Ibid., 14.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid., 14–16
30 Derek M. D. Silva. ‘The Othering of Muslims: Discourses of Radicalization in the “New York Times”, 1969–2014’. Sociological Forum 32, no. 1 (2017): 140.
31 Staszak, J.-F. ‘Other/Otherness’, in International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, ed. Rob Kitchin and Nigel Thrift (Oxford: Elsevier, 2009), 43.
32 Ewa Kocój. ‘European Representations of Others: Reflecting on the “Us and Them. An Intricate History of Otherness” Exhibition and Book’. Anthropos 108, no. 1 (2013), 273.
33 Adib-Moghaddam, 13–14
34 Ibid., 18.
35 Adib-Moghaddam, exchanged email with the author, May 20, 2020.
36 Adib-Moghaddam, 8.
37 William L. Cleveland, The Making of an Arab Nationalist: Ottomanism and Arabism in the Life and Thought of Sati’ Al-Husri (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971), 47.
38 Satiʿ al-Husri, Araʾ fi al-wataniyya wa al-qawmiyya [Views on patriotism and nationalism], (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Wuḥda al-ʿArabiyya, 1985), 23.
39 ‘The Abbasid Caliphate (750–821)’, Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran/The-Abbasid-caliphate-750–821.
40 See: ʾAbdulaziz al-Duri, al-juthur al-tarikhiyya li al-shuʿubiyya, (Beirut: Dār al-Ṭalīʿa li al-ṭibāʿa wa al-Nashr, 1981).
41 Shafiq Juha, al-Haraka al-ʿarabiyya al-sirriya (jamaʿat al-kitab al-ʾahmar), (Beirut: al-Furāt, 2004), 393.
42 Ibid., 393–394.
43 Ibid., 403. I took the English translation of Aṣabiyya from Adib-Moghaddam’ book Psycho-nationalism:, 27.
44 Juha, 439, 442, 443, and 444.
45 Al-Taliʿa changed its ideological orientation later on to lean towards liberalism especially after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990–91. This change influenced its priorities and the way it constructed itself in relation to others.
46 Suhayr al-Tal, Harakat al-qawmiyin al-Arab wa inʿitafatuha al-fikriyya [the Arab nationalists’ movement and the turning points in its ideology] (Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Wuḥda al-ʿArabiyya, 1996), 13.
48 Mohammad al-Habib, ‘the Formation of the Shiʿa Communities in Kuwait: Migration, Settlement and Contribution between 1880 and 1938’ (Ph.D. thesis, Royal Holloway, 2017), 138.
49 Ibid., 141.
50 Ibid.
51 ‘File 27/12 II Kuwait Trade Reports from 1917–18 to 1923–24’, British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/5/74, in Qatar Digital Library, https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100000000831.0x000015.
52 Longva, 46.
53 Laurence Louer, Transnational Shia politics: religious and political networks in the Gulf (New York: Columbia University Press), 18.
54 Lindsey R. Stephenson, ‘Rerouting the Persian Gulf: the Transnationalization of Iranian Migrant Networks, c.1900–1940’ (Ph.D. thesis., Princeton University, 2018), 47.
55 Al-Nakib, 94.
56 Khaldoun al-Naqeeb, Siraʿ al-qabaliyya wa al-dimuqratiyya: halat al-Kuwait [The dispute between tribalism and democracy: the case of Kuwait] (Beirut: Dar Al Saqi, 1996), 58.
57 Minister of Interior Affairs, 1963, taken from Kuwait’s National Assembly’s website: https://search.kna.kw/web/Retrieval/home.aspx.
59 ‘Al-mutasallilūn [The illegal immigrants]’, al-Taliʿa, December 11, no. 61, (1963): 10.
60 ‘Masʾūliyyāt al-shaʿb wa majlis al-ʾumma wa al-hukūma [the responsibilities of the people, the National Assembly and the government]’, al-Taliʿa, April 8, 1964, issue 76, 6.
61 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, May 22, 1963, issue 32, 3.
62 ‘Raʾi al-Taliʿa: Jānib min al-khatar al-irānī [al-Taliʿa’s opinion: an example of Iran’s danger], al-Taliʿa, November 13, 1963, issue 57, 3.
63 Cleveland, 74–75.
64 ʿAbdallah Khalid al-Hatim, Min huna badaʾ at al-Kuwait [Kuwait began from here] (Kuwait: Dār al-Qabas, 1980), 20–21.
65 Ghanim Alnajjar, Madkhal li al-tatawwur al-siyasi fi al-Kuwait [An introduction to political development in Kuwait]. (Kuwait: Dār Qirṭās, 1996), 27.
66 Juha, 442 and 444.
67 ʾAdil ʿAbdulmughni, Yawmiyyat majlis al-ʾumma al-tashriʿi al-awwal (al-dawra alʾūlā) (Kuwait, 2020), 84.
68 Munther Alhabib, ‘Hal zalamat al-riwāya al-rasmiyya Ahmed al-Jaber? [Did the official history was unfair towards Ahmed al-Jaber?]’ Manshoor, accessed December 9, 2023, https://manshoor.com/politics-and-economics/ruling-family-of-kuwait/.
69 Al-Mdaires, 14.
70 Khalid Al-Saʿdun, Al-ʿAlaqat al-ʿiraqiyya—al-kuwaitiyya zaman al-malik Ghazi 1933–1938: kama sawwaratha al-wathaʾiq al-biritaniyya [The relationship between Iraq and Kuwait during king Ghazi’s reign: as it shown in the British documents] (London: Dār al-Ḥikma, 2013), 246.
71 Alnajjar, 26.
72 Cited from Mohammad al-Habib, ʾIdhaʾat tarīkhiyya, 216.
73 Mohammad E. al-Habib. ‘Kuwait’s ʿAjam merchants: a transnational community (1896–1950).’ Middle Eastern Studies, (2003): 1.
74 Al-Habib, (2017), 33–34.
75 Ibid., 132 and 138.
76 Ali al-ʿAwadhi, ‘al-Taliʿa .. mahattat tarikhiyya [al-Taliʿa .. historical phases]’, Ali Hussein al-ʿAwadhi, accessed on December 10, 2023, https://alialawadhi.com/?p=50.
77 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, October 16, 1968, issue 250.
78 ‘Māthā jarā fī Iran yawm alkhāmis min yūnyū almāḍī.? [What did happen in Iran on June 5th?]’, al-Taliʿa, August 5, 1964, issue 92, 8.
79 ‘Wukālat al–istikhbārāt al–amrīkiyya alamrīkiyya wa muhāwalāt al-takhrīb al-mustamirra dākhil ṣufūf al-ṭalīʿa al–ʿāmila fī al–ʿālam [The American Central Intelligent Agency and its continuous damaging efforts within the working class in the world]’, al-Taliʿa, July 5, 1967, issue 186, 7.
80 ‘Suwālif: ʾusṭūra .. fī al-Kuwait [Talks: a legend .. in Kuwait]’, al-Taliʿa, July 1, 1964, issue 88, 2.
81 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, April 8, 1964, issue 76, 3.
82 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, August 5, 1964, issue 92, 3.
84 ‘Barīd al-rukun [The corner’s letters]’, al-Taliʿa, April 29, 1964, issue 79, 19.
85 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn’, August 5.
86 Mubarak Falih, “Khawāṭir .. ((Irāniyya)) [((Iranian)) .. reflections]’, al-Taliʿa, June 10, 1964, issue 85, 18.
87 ‘Khawāṭir: law kul man jāʾ najar [Reflections: if everyone came and cut a tree (an Arabic proverb)]’, al-Taliʿa, December 23, 3rd year, issue 112, last page.
88 ‘Barīd al-rukun [The corner’s letters]’, al-Taliʿa, November 18, 1964, issue 107, 19.
89 Falih.
91 For example, see: ‘Al-Kuwait fī ʾisbūʿ [Kuwait in a week]’, al-Taliʿa, May 13, 1964, issue 81, 21.
92 ‘Mushkilatnā bi: māl avval [Our problems come from mal avval]’, al-Taliʿa, July 8, 1964, issue 89, 19.
93 ‘Nationality Law, 1959’.
94 ‘Jalsat al-sabt [Saturday’s gathering]’, al-Taliʿa, November 27, 1963, issue 59, 8.
95 Ibid.
96 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, August 19, 1964, issue 94, 3.
97 ‘Raʾy al-Taliʿa: ʾIthāʿa min al-Kuwait billugha al-ʾirāniyya [al-Taliʿa’s opinion: an Iranian radio station in Kuwait]’, al-Taliʿa, May 23, 1964, issue 81, 3.
98 ‘Nationality Law, 1959’.
99 ‘Rudūd Khāṣṣa [Especial responses]’, al-Taliʿa, March 17, 1965, issue 123, 23.
100 ‘Khawāṭir: āmū .. wallā ʿmī ..!? [Reflections: uncle (in Persian) .. or .. uncle (in Arabic)..!?]’, al-Taliʿa, September 29, 1965, issue 150, last page.
101 ‘Al-Ḥaq al-tārīkhī li Iran zaʿm mardūd [The historical right of Iran is an allegation]’, al-Taliʿa, May 1, 1968, issue 227, 18.
102 ‘Khawāṭir: āmū .. wallā ʿmī ..!?’, al-Taliʿa.
103 ‘Barīd al-rukun [The corner’s letters]’, al-Taliʿa, August 26, 1964, issue 95, 18.
104 ‘Qarār Ḥakīm … wa lākin [a wise decision … but]’, al-Taliʿa, May 6, 1964, issue 80, 3.
105 Ahmed Ali, ‘Anā Kuvaitī [I am Kuvaiti]’, al-Taliʿa, April 21, 1964, issue 78.
106 ‘Barīd al-qurrāʾ [Readers’ letters]’, al-Taliʿa, June 16, 1965, issue 135, 23.
107 ‘Mushkilatnā bi: mal avval’.
108 ‘Raʾy al-Taliʿa: al-Kuwait wa al-Iraq [al-Taliʿa’s opinion: Kuwait and Iraq]’, al-Taliʿa, August 19, 1964, issue 94, 3.
109 ‘Iran takshif biṣarāḥa ʿan maṭāmiʿihā [Iran reveals its greeds]’, al-Taliʿa, October 23, 1963, issue 54, 11.
110 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, May 22, 1963, issue 32, 3.
111 ‘Masāmir [Nails]’, al-Taliʿa, May 22, 1963, issue 32, last page.
112 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, May 22, 1963, issue 32, 3.
113 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, August 12, 1964, issue 93, 3.
114 ‘Barīd al-qurrāʾ [Readers’ letters]’, al-Taliʿa, August 11, 1965, issue 143, 19.
115 ‘Raʾy al-Taliʿa: khaṭar iran [al-Taliʿa’s opinion: the danger of Iran]’, al-Taliʿa, October 16, 1963, issue 54, 3.
116 ‘Khawāṭir [Reflections]’, al-Taliʿa, June 27, 1962, issue 3, last page.
117 Ibid.
118 ‘Al-khalīj al-ʿarabī … kān ʿarabiyyan … wa sayabqā [Arabian Gulf was an Arab gulf and will continue to be]’, al-Taliʿa, June 27, 1962, issue 3, 5.
119 Ibid.
120 ‘Mutasallil [An illigal immigrant]’, al-Taliʿa, February 7, 1968, issue 216, 5.
121 ‘Barīd al-qurrāʾ’, al-Taliʿa, August 11.
122 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, August 5, 1964, issue 92, 3.
123 ‘Barīd al-qurrāʾ [Readers’ letters]’, al-Taliʿa, March 4, 1964, issue 71, 23.
124 See: issue number 73, 16.
125 See: issue number 74, 3.
126 ‘Khawāṭir: al-kuwait al-irāniyya [Reflections: the Iranian Kuwait]’, al-Taliʿa, April 21, 1965, issue 127, last page.
127 Stephenson, 50.
128 Al-Habib, based on the British archive, does not come to this conclusion. He even believes that Shiʿa and Ajam participated in the battle and supported the authorities in the country against the Wahhabis. See: Mohammad al-Habib, al-Shiʿa fi maʿrakat al-jahraʾ qiraʾa wathaʾiqiyya jadida [Shia in the battle of Jahraʾ: a new interpretation of the documents] (Kuwait: Thāt al-salāsil, 2015).
129 Raʾy al-Taliʿa: mashakil al-jinsiyya [Al-Taliʿa’s opinion: problems of naturalizing]’, al-Taliʿa, November 27, 1963, issue 59, 3.
130 ‘Raʾy al-Taliʿa: ḥashrajat al-ʿumalāʾ wa al-shuʿūbiyyīn [al-Taliʿa’s opinion: the rattles of spies and shuʿubiyyin]’, al-Taliʿa, March 9, 1966, issue 170, 5. It is worth mentioning that al-Habib reveals in his book that not only Ajam went to a foreign embassy, but also Arabs went to a foreign embassy in 1938-39. See: al-Shiʿa fi maʿrakat al-jahraʾ, 54.
131 Hamdan al-Shimmiri, ‘Suʾāl ṣaḥīḥ [A right question]’, al-Taliʿa, February 7, 1968, issue 216, 25.
132 See: issue number 70, 17, and issue number 74, 17.
133 Anh Nga Longva, p.49.
134 See: The session of the National Assembly on November 23, 1963. Visit: https://search.kna.kw/web/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fweb%2fRetrieval%2fhome.aspx.
135 Ibid.
136 Al-Shamlan and al-Hatam use the term Ajam when referring to the battle, while al-Mdaires and al-Habib use the term Shiʿa. See: Sayf Marzuq al-Shamlan, Min tarikh al-Kuwait [from Kuwait’s history], (Kuwait: Thāt al-salāsil, 1986), 192, ʿAbdallah al-Hatam, Min huna badaʾat al-Kuwait [Kuwait began from here], (Kuwait: Dār al-Qabas, 1980), 59, al-Mdaires, 11, and al-Habib (2015).
137 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn’, al-Taliʿa, August 19.
138 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, December 8, the fourth year [1965], issue 158, 3.
139 Najim ʾAbdulkarim, ‘Qasam [An oath]’, al-Taliʿa, May 13, 1964, issue 81, 23.
140 ‘Barīd al-qurrāʾ [Readers’ letters]’, al-Taliʿa, February 6, 1963, issue 17, 11.
141 ‘Al-Khatib: lan nasmaḥ bilʾiglīmiyya [Al- Khatib: we will not allow regionalism]’, al-Taliʿa, March 13, 1963, issue 22, 1 and 11.
142 ‘Jalsat al-sabt’.
143 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, June 26, 1963, issue 37, 3.
144 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, November 20, 1964, issue 116, 3.
145 ‘Khawāṭir: Ataḥddāk [Reflections: I dare you]’, al-Taliʿa, April 15, 1964, issue 77, last page.
146 Ahmed al-Khatib, “Man hum al-mutājirūn biʿaraq al-ʿummāl wa dumūʿahum …? [Who takes advantage of workers’ strives and tears …?]’, al-Taliʿa, March 17, 1963, issue 23, 1 and 5.
147 ‘Istrātījiyyat birīṭānyā al-jadīda fī al-khalīj al-arabī [The British new strategies in the Arabian Gulf]’, al-Taliʿa, April 15, 1964, issue 77, 10-11.
148 ‘Shuʿūbiyyūn’, al-Taliʿa, April 21, 1963, an appendix to issue 28, 4.
149 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, April 21, 1965, issue 127, 3.
150 ‘Aqūl [I say]’, al-Taliʿa, June 22, 1967, issue 184, 5.
151 ʾAbdulmihsin al-Nasser, “al-Khaṭar al-irānī … wa al-masʾūliyya al-jamāʿiyya [Iran’s danger and the collective responsibilities]’, al-Taliʿa, May 13, 1964, issue 81, 22.
152 ‘Raʾy al-Taliʿa: munṭalaqāt māliyya wa ʿaskariyya litaʿbiʾat al-quwa al-wataniyya [al-Taliʿa’s opinion: financial and military standing points to mobilize national groups]’, al-Taliʿa, March 20, 1968, issue 221, 3.
153 ‘Ḥadīth al-dawāwīn [Talks in diwans]’, al-Taliʿa, April 1, 1964, issue 75, 3.
154 ‘Rudūd qaṣīra [Short Responses]’, al-Taliʿa, December 11, 1968, issue 258, 28.
155 ‘Al-ʾughniya al-irāniyya wa al-shakhṣiyya al-ʿarabiyya [Iranian songs and Arabic personality]’, al-Taliʿa, October 4, 1964, issue 102, 18.