Farah al-Nakib (BA '01) published a book in April 2016 entitled Kuwait Transformed: Oil and Urban Life with Stanford University Press. The book delves into the mid-twentieth century oil urbanization of Kuwait City, the first Gulf city to experience such a transformation. Stanford University Press writes: "In Kuwait Transformed, Farah Al-Nakib connects the city's past and present, from its settlement in 1716 to the twenty-first century, through the bridge of oil discovery. She traces the relationships between the urban landscape, patterns and practices of everyday life, and social behaviors and relations in Kuwait. The history that emerges reveals how decades of urban planning, suburbanization, and privatization have eroded an open, tolerant society and given rise to the insularity, xenophobia, and divisiveness that characterize Kuwaiti social relations today."
Al-Nakib is Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Center for Gulf Studies at the American University of Kuwait. She was recently profiled in Bazaar magazine where she credits her experience writing her senior History thesis with setting her on her course to becoming a professional historian. Congratulations, Farah!