On a typical Friday afternoon, Kuwait's malls begin to fill up as people mill through the coffee shops, retail stores and restaurants. They wander the air-conditioned 'streets' seeking refuge from the scorching heat and sating their appetite for material goods and society. Indeed for most of us, shopping malls have become the default destinations on weekends - and our summers if we are unlucky enough to 'staycation.' Alongside their role as retail hotspots, malls are the predominant social spaces in Kuwait. We go there to hang out with friends and have lunch with family. A social space - whether public or private - is a space where people gather and interact. Every society, however large or small, needs such spaces where diverse individuals and groups can intermingle and exchange ideas. And in Kuwait, this function is increasingly being performed by the not-so-humble shopping mall.
Changing spaces
Yet, this has not always been the case. Diwaniyas, university campuses and even Irada Square are some of the more traditional avenues of social exchange. But these necessarily constrain the kind of interaction allowed. Diwaniyas exclude women. Universities are tailored to the youth. Irada Square, of course, is not a place frequented by ordinary expats. The dominant role of shopping malls in our social lives highlights a trend wherein Kuwait's major societal interactions are increasingly moving from the public to the private sphere. According to Dr Farah Al-Nakib, Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Center for Gulf Studies at the American University of Kuwait, "Before the invasion, Kuwait had many more integrated areas: meaning areas that housed multiple functions, activities and people." "One excellent example," Dr Nakib explained, "particularly as it lends itself to comparison with a present-day mall, was what we now call 'Old Salmiya.' This was the first part of Salmiya to be developed into a commercial zone in the 1960s. But it was also residential: people lived in apartments above the shops. It was an outdoor area, so it was easily accessible and did not have barriers and security guards the way malls do." Kuwait's public parks and libraries too, now largely abandoned and often poorly maintained, are visited by a very slim percentage of the population.
Are malls social? It is to this decline in the availability of alternative public spaces, that we can trace the increased importance of malls as social arenas. Another reason, cited by Dr Nakib, is the population's, especially the national population's, high purchasing power that facilitates the lucrative consumption-driven development. Of course, shopping malls too are subject to constraints similar to those that define places like beach clubs and other more traditional spaces.
High-end malls, like the 360 and Salhiya Complex, may not discriminate between nationalities or gender but they do between socio-economic class. They are neither easily accessible to nor suited to the needs and purchasing power of the lower middle class. At the same time, shopping areas-like the Salmiya Center-that cater to the working class tend to be avoided by those with high socio-economic status.
Malls are primarily geared to encouraging material consumption. Because of this, the interaction they generate can be of an inferior quality as compared to public places like parks or town squares. "Parks encompass many different kinds of people doing many different kinds of things: playing ball, having a picnic, reading, people-watching, sleeping on a park bench, running, etc. Even if you don't actually speak to strangers, you are silently negotiating this space with one another: making sure your frisbee does not crash into that family's picnic, running around that group's ball game rather than straight through it, etc." Dr Nakib explains. The trouble with malls-where we all go because we want to shop-she claims, is that, "we are forgetting how to interact and negotiate with difference, because we are constantly surrounded by sameness."
Even so, cafes and restaurants at malls do not place gender or race-based restrictions on who can walk in and enjoy a meal with family - even if they have their sights set on your wallet. No one's going to stop you from window-shopping with friends at a high-end mall, despite the fact you don't intend to make a purchase. And while the dozen or so malls in Kuwait do promote a thrifty consumer culture, they also play host to a number of cultural festivities, exhibitions and film festivals that draw in a diverse crowd. Love them or hate them, most of us in Kuwait cannot avoid shopping malls if we want to keep our social lives afloat. They serve their purpose well, providing us the convenience of grabbing groceries, renewing our wardrobes and refurnishing our homes all under one air-conditioned roof. The fact that they allow us to socialize with friends and family is an added bonus. Yet perhaps what Kuwait really needs is a rejuvenation of its public spaces, those where everyone, irrespective of nationality, gender, ethnicity or socio-economic class, can come together in a truly vibrant social atmosphere
© Kuwait Times 2014
