09/08/2026
The Institute for Middle East Studies is proud to host Professor Alex Boodrookas, author of "Comrades Estranged: Labor and Citizenship in the Twentieth-Century Persian Gulf."
In 1975, Kuwaiti workers orchestrated arguably the most powerful citizen-led movement for noncitizen rights in the history of the Persian Gulf. Their efforts built on decades of wide-ranging struggle over the meanings and outlines of citizenship. During the twentieth century, anti-colonial nationalists, pro-democracy reformers, feminists, and labor organizers joined forces to fight for a more equitable citizenship regime. In so doing, they won a remarkable series of victories: political independence, constitutional rights, and oil nationalization, reshaping not just Kuwait, but the global petroleum order.
"Comrades Estranged" reframes the history of labor activism, citizenship, and decolonization in Persian Gulf by centering the history of social movements—especially organized labor. Alex Boodrookas traces how workers and their allies shaped the world-historic transformations witnessed across the region: the consolidation of British sovereignty, formation of autocratic states, inrush of hydrocarbon wealth, onset of decolonization, and rise of both mass migration and mass politics. But unions failed to incorporate noncitizens into their movement, and as Boodrookas argues, this fatally undermined the movements' strength. The contradictions of nationalist and internationalist visions proved insurmountable. "Comrades Estranged" thus sheds light on both the power, and the limits, of citizenship and the nation-state as the framework for political action.
We hope you will join the Institute for Middle East Studies, Professor Alex Boodrookas, and discussant Professor Attiya Ahmad, for this conversation about labor relations and citizenship in the twentieth century Persian Gulf region. All are welcome to attend this event in-person or online.
For more information about this event, please visit our website:
https://imes.elliott.gwu.edu/comrades-estranged
