The Internet and Public Culture in Kuwait

Abstract

This article considers the development and impact of the Internet in Kuwait. It argues that even though important cultural filters shape Internet use, experimentation with new social relationships in cyberspace occur. This is true especially among youths. It performs three kinds of analyses to make its main point. First, it performs a content analysis of the major Kuwaiti daily newspapers in both Arabic and English to illustrate the emergence of a public consciousness of the Internet. Second, it uses survey data to describe the scope and character of the Kuwaiti Internet community in relation to the general population of Kuwait, and in relation to regional Internet access/use patterns. Third, it examines the emerging impacts of Internet use in Kuwait. It concludes that the most significant possibilities for change stem from student use of the Internet to transgress gender boundaries, and to protest the state's new gender law.