Before the 1990 Gulf War, Kuwaitis used to live on Failaka Island. But, during the war, the island got destroyed and then was never rebuilt again forcing the “Failakans” to move and live on the mainland. Now 25 years later, Doti Watkins, a local resident is working on a project to preserve the stories of the Failakans. She’s trying to track down anyone who used to live on Failaka to interview them about their lives on the island, as well as hopefully share with her photos, documents or artifacts.
I think this is a really interesting so if you know anyone who used to live on Failaka, please get in touch with her (her details are below). Here is some more info on this project:
The Kuwaitis of Failaka Island
An Oral History ProjectFailaka Island is a unique place in the Arabian Gulf in general, and Kuwait specifically. It is located 20KM from Kuwait City and is well known for its rich and diverse archeological sites. What is being overlooked is that the Kuwaiti settlement of Failaka is also an important archeological site and there is an urgent need to preserve the geography, culture, and history of the Kuwaiti’s who once lived there. They are the most recent people to settle on the island, with a history that is estimated to be 300 years
The Kuwait Failakans are of special interest because they were neither urban nor nomadic. Their landscape and resources were different from the Kuwait mainland. They had different soil and water sources for agriculture compared to mainland Kuwait. They lived in relative isolation and relied on marine travel for connectivity to the rest of their society. Additionally, their sense of place included the remnants of all the other settlements before them.
It has been more than 25 years since the Kuwait Failakans were removed from their homes. This means the surviving population is aging and it will only become more difficult with time to acquire firsthand information and preserve an understanding of what it meant to be a Kuwaiti Failakan.
The purpose of this project is to collect the oral histories of Kuwait Failakans and use GIS (Geographic Information Science/Systems) to develop a GIS database “library” which will store and preserve their histories, traditions, folklore, photos and other documentation as available.
Doti Watkins
[email protected]
96007801
@doti_watkins
26 replies on “The Kuwaitis of Failaka Island”
Didn’t we sell that to China?
No
I swear people bend news. They are accepting a Chinese investment into the islands including mutlaa, these areas will be self governed. Nothing was sold, nothing was rented and nothing was gifted. China wants a place to work in and Kuwait wants to develop without getting invaded by Saudi. Done deal.
All the more reason to capture the oral histories and heritage now. For better or worse, the island has and will continue to change.
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This account in instagram can help
Which account? no links in your comment.
just click on his user name and it will get you to the instagram account
Thanks you…I have reached out to them and hope they will chose to participate.
Super interesting. Going to keep an eye on this.
Please feel free to join us on the island any weekend while we are doing fieldwork!
And of course check out our progress on social media.
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Piece of info.: the government relocated most of Failaka residents to the mainland before the 1990 invasion. After Liberation, the government started planning Development schemes for the island. Some ex-residents of Failaka made claims to go back and live in the island, which are pending with the government to decide on. I have actually worked with the first development scheme around 2004.
Yup families started moving to the mainland in the 60s cause of the oil, by the 70s most have already moved back. (Source: my family)…
I don’t think anybody in their right mind would still be there in the late 80s, Failaka never advanced like the mainland when oil was found, so not much of an incentive to stay there.
My family left only because of the war, and even after the was they went back there for a year till they could settle things out on what they could do, now that the island was destroyed.
…Also consistent with my background research. If your family would like to share their experiences I would like very much to meet with them. Language is not a problem…English/Arabic OK
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Thank you for your interest. The project is officially underway and making excellent progress.
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Thanks for the info Jamal, It is consistent with my background research. The fate of the island is uncertain right now and many want to develop it and many want to restore it.
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Great idea and good luck to her! Will try to convince some…
Also there already are some books that do exactly what she is aiming, in Arabic.
I personally have one book that’s goes over the architecture and planning of the people, and another that goes over everything about the culture (folklore, traditions, food, practices, activities, etc…) will try to dig em up and share the titles!
Please do!
Hi Ipsom,
Would love access/information to the books you mentioned above. Please contact me anytime. With the GIS mapping (technical part) of the project I am able to provide links to documents, archives, photos etc. And I appreciate your support in reaching out to any Failakans that might be interested in sharing their stories with me.
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I wish Kuwait would create an oral histories section in a museum like they have at the museum in Qatar. It’s amazing with full sized photos of the people giving the oral history and the audio is in their own voice. This would be perfect for the history of Failaka.
Dear Tanya,
I couldn’t agree more. I was just talking to one of my female participants granddaughters the other day about this. How amazing for their own future children to be able to listen to their great/great-great grandmother speak about her life experiences in her own voice. This project is intended as a baseline dataset that others can easily build on and expand.
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Amazing! i’ll involve some family members into this.
It has been amazing! The families I have worked with so far have been incredibly generous with their time, sharing their stories and knowledge and more. I believe it has been a very satisfying experience for them as much as for me. Please have them contact me any time for more information, so they can decide if they want to participate.
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She can gain a lot of information from the College of Architecture in Kuwait University. One of the professors has been working on a similar project for a couple of years and interviewing many of the island inhabitants.
My family is from there but I don’t think many will be helpful since most of the older generation don’t speak English.
Dear Hanan,
Thanks for the lead. We are reaching out to KU College of Architecture and if you know the name of the Professor you mentioned, please send it to me.
Also, Arabic is not a problem for the oral histories. I am conducting the sessions in Arabic (or English if they prefer), so that the recordings will be in the individual’s natural voice.
I am very interested in preserving/recording “Failaka specific” words, phrases, sayings, and that can only be done in Arabic.
The older generation of Failakans are a treasure, language is not a problem for me.
@dotiwatkinsgis twitter
@doti_watkins instagram
Dear all,
Thank you all for your comments, suggestions, information and leads. I have waited until the project was official to respond. And MARK…thank you again for your support. It help tremendously.
The project has officially begun and we have already made excellent progress.
We have had wonderful support and participation from the Kuwaiti Failakans who have allowed us to record their personal stories about daily life on the island and welcome any referrals. We are interested in speaking to anyone who lived on Failaka before the invasion.
We are conducting traditional fieldwork to map and photography existing and lost homes and infrastructure, current and old maps etc.
Some examples of the technical work (GIS mapping and analysis) completed so far is available on twitter and instagram if you are interested. We would be grateful for comments and feedback on ways to improve the project, but most important is the support of the Kuwaiti Failakans to preserve their stories so that future generations will be able to understand what it meant to be Failakan.
@dotiwatkinsgis twitter
@doti_watkins instagram