Al-Ansari: Cultural diversity enriches Kuwait's identity

Dr. Issa Al-Ansari, former Assistant Secretary-General of the Culture Sector at the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters and professor at Kuwait University, participated in the seminar “Cultural Management Between the Particularities of Creativity and the Pluralism of Society,” as part of the cultural program of the 25th edition of the Amman International Book Fair. The seminar, held at the Jordan International Exhibition Center in the capital Amman, featured the participation of former Jordanian Minister of Culture Dr. Sabri Arba’at, and was moderated by writer Hazaa Al-Barari, former Secretary-General of the Jordanian Ministry of Culture. Participants discussed issues of cultural management and the challenges facing cultural industries.

Al-Ansari outlined the features of Kuwait’s experience in cultural diversity, explaining that it was based on three fundamental historical streams. The first consisted of Kuwaitis’ maritime voyages to India, Africa, and Aden in pursuit of livelihood, which fostered interaction with diverse peoples and cultures. He noted that Kuwait’s attraction of Arab teachers and intellectuals from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt constituted the second stream, as these individuals enriched cultural life and contributed to the emergence of the earliest beginnings of theatrical, literary, and artistic movements. The third stream involved the early dispatch of Kuwaiti students to several Arab countries, which strengthened and broadened cultural and intellectual exchanges.

Al-Ansari emphasized that these pathways contributed to building a cultural environment conducive to hosting prominent intellectual institutions and projects, including the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, the launch of Al-Arabi magazine in 1958, and the “World of Thought” and “World of Knowledge” series. He highlighted the role of translation projects from global languages in enriching the Arabic library and enhancing Kuwait’s contribution to disseminating knowledge and consolidating its cultural presence across the Arab world.