“I often find myself in a closed circle of choices…I am limited in what I can achieve and what I can become in Kuwait,” researcher and rights activist Khadijah Al-Shammari told Amwaj.media about her life as a Kuwaiti Bidoon.

Meaning “without” in Arabic—as in “without citizenship”—Bidoon is a term used for Bedouins who were excluded from the Kuwaiti nation-building project after independence from Britain in 1961. Government sources say the stateless community is 85,000-strong, but activists estimate the real figure to be upwards of 200,000...