In 2006, Kuwait became the first country in the Gulf region to add an explicit human rights component to its national curriculum. One of the most politically democratic Gulf states, Kuwait aspires to create through formal education a ‘knowledge economy’ built on the recognition, agency and action of its citizens. This project explores how schools in Kuwait teach about citizenship, gauging teacher and student perspectives on school life, and on discourses of rights and democratic citizenship they encounter in Kuwaiti media and society.

Using focus group, surveys, media content analysis and critical discourse analysis, the project explores the tensions and challenges of 21^st century citizenship identity and practice formation in Kuwait, attempting to understand how schools as sites of citizenship formation reflect, resist or assimilate different and sometimes competing conceptions of citizenship across Kuwaiti society. Contrasting the experiences of young people and adults in schools with analyses of contemporary media discourses on citizenship in Kuwait, the project will generate new understandings of how pedagogy and mediated discourses influence young people’s civic perspectives and identities. The study intends to generate an evidence base to inform policymaking for a renewed form of citizenship education that will aid the Kuwaiti agenda to be a more democratic, knowledge-based society.

Outputs

• Sam Mejias, Rania Al-Nakib, Abdullah al-Khonaini, and Rana Khazbak, (2023) 'Youth Citizenship Identities in Kuwait: The Role of Citizenship Education and the Kuwaiti Diwaniya', LSE Middle East Centre Kuwait Programme Paper Series 19 (September 2023).
• Rania Al-Nakib, Sam Mejias, Abdullah al-Khonaini and Rana Khazbak, 'Seen But Not Heard: Youth Citizenship Identities and Participation in Kuwait', LSE Kuwait Programme webinar, 8 December 2021.
• Sam Mejias and Rana Khazbak, ‘Between national pride and critical inquiry: Citizenship education and youth perspectives in Kuwait’, and Rania Al-Nakib and Abdullah al-Khoneini ‘Kuwaiti Youth and Evolution of the “Democratic Diwaniya”’, Middle East Studies Association conference presentations, 29 November 2021.

Blogs

• Amna Abudyak and Sam Mejias, 'Studying Identities: Nationalism in Kuwait’s Schools', LSE Middle East Centre blog, 27 March 2023.
• Sam Mejias and Amna Abudyak, 'Reimagining Civic Engagement: Emerging Forms of the Diwaniya in Kuwait', LSE Middle East Centre blog, 9 May 2023.

Principal Investigators

Dr Sam Mejias

Sam is a Research Fellow in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE.

Dr Rania Al-Nakib

Rania is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait.

Researchers

Rana Khazbak

Rana is a Research Assistant on the project.

Jad Baghdadi

Jad is a Research Assistant on the project.

Abdullah al-Khonaini

Abdullah is a Research Assistant on the project.

Amna Abudyak

Amna is a Research Assistant on the project.