Kuwait at 50: A Passionate Project by an AUK Faculty

AUK anthropology professor Marjorie Kelly has recently completed a three-year project titled "Kuwait at 50". It consists of almost 800 photos of contemporary Kuwait, organized into four programs: clothing, food, leisure activities, and architecture. AUK students were instrumental in developing the project. They posed for photos, took pictures, organized traditional Kuwaiti meals so they could be photographed, suggested topics, and reviewed the presentation for accuracy as it developed.

The project was initiated when a student gave Dr. Kelly the clothing that was used in the first student exhibition held at AUK in 2006. This sparked Dr. Kelly's interest and she eventually wrote an article on contemporary clothing choices in Kuwait which was published in Fashion Theory. While selecting photos for the article Dr. Kelly realized that the real impact of her findings was not in the text but in the photos. She said, "I thought someone ought to do a full visual ethnography of clothing in Kuwait so that is what I did." As the project progressed, the three other topics were added to provide a fuller picture of life in modern Kuwait.

Recent AUK graduate Dana Al-Failakawi narrated all four programs and assisted in writing the thirty-three page Teacher's Guide. In addition to a printed version of the script, the Teacher's Guide contains some background notes on Kuwait, a glossary, and suggested readings. The DVD and Guide are being distributed without charge for use in American and British classrooms to give the students in those countries a more accurate view of life in Kuwait.

The first presentation of the material for the general public was at the March meeting of the Kuwait Textile Arts Association at Sadu House. The clothing section of the DVD was introduced and shown by Dr. Kelly, then former students Dana Al-Failakawi and Dalal Al-Sharhan modeled several dara'as for an enthusiastic audience.

The entire project - research, production, and distribution of materials - was underwritten by a grant from Wataniya Telecom. Thanks to Wataniya's generosity, all those attending this year's Gulf Studies Conference at the University of Exeter received a copy of the DVD to share with their students. DVDs will also be made available for members of the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies at the Middle East Studies Associationâs annual meeting to be held in November in Denver. For further information about the project and the availability of the DVD and/or the Guide, please contact Dr. Kelly at mkelly@auk.edu.kw.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 28th November 2012