The 1980s Kuwaiti Sea-Ghost and Pearl-Diving Traditions

Record summary

Kuwaiti maritime folklore preserves stories associated with pearl diving, dangerous waters, shipwrecks, sea spirits, and encounters with uncanny beings. Cultural documentation in the oil-era period provides a basis for comparing occupational danger, remembered pre-oil life, Islamic jinn concepts, and the heritage industry’s preservation of oral tradition. Individual stories should be tied to named narrators, collections, museum records, or radio programs. The existence of a maritime story world is secure, but particular creatures, incidents, and supposed historical origins vary across families and coastal communities.