Arabian Heritage Project
The Arabian Heritage Project (AHP) is a center dedicated to fostering, documenting, and celebrating the traditional cultures of the Arabian Peninsula. The unit is concerned with a variety of traditions, including those of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the Yemen, and related Middle Eastern countries and parts of Africa and India. Through education, outreach, and research endeavors, AHP unites students and both the local and international community with rare traditional resources, involving specialists from a myriad of customs such as music, poetry, folklore, literature, dance, handicrafts and rituals.

Dr. Lisa Urkevich, Director
Lisa Urkevich, Associate Professor Musicology/Ethnomusicology, is a leading specialist on the culture and music of the Arabian Peninsula.  She has written on and undertaken extensive fieldwork in the region, having lived for four years in Saudi Arabia, in the Najd, the western Hijaz (Taif and Jeddah), and the southern Asir (Khamis Mushayt). She also spent two years in the Gulf States as a US Senior Fulbright Scholar. Before coming to Kuwait, Dr. Urkevich was a professor at Boston University. She has been a visiting professor at various American institutions including Bucknell University, the University of Maryland, and Millersville University.  She holds four degrees: Ph.D. University of Maryland, M.M. Florida State University, B.S. Towson University, B.A. University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. Urkevich teaches courses on traditions of the Arabian Peninsula and is currently working on a Saudi instrument archival project and a book on the sea songs of the Arabian Gulf. www.urkevich.com

AHP Project Coordinator
Rehab EL-Bahey

AHP Staff Assistants 2009 - 10
Nora Al-Khudar
Noura Al-Shaya

Contact