In the past century, Kuwaiti society has undergone state-formation coinciding with oil discovery, while also experiencing numerous social and political movements that affect conceptions of privilege and the status of discrimination. On more than one occasion, Kuwait has received negative attention due to reports of xenophobic remarks directed primarily at the bidoon (stateless people) and expatriate residents. Moreover, in recent years, Kuwait’s Bedouins (Arabs with a nomadic background) have also been on the receiving end of these attacks. The content of these remarks largely pertain to notions of Kuwaiti citizenship and identity being linked to certain privileges, and has caused the singling-out of those seemingly not belonging to these categories. In this context, it is important to trace how such attitudes toward non-Kuwaitis are linked to a broader socioeconomic history framed by the rentier state. Given its status as a rentier state, it is possible that the state-benefits received by Kuwaitis have contributed to a heightened sense of ‘Kuwaiti’ citizenship as a privileged status. Whether inadvertently or not, this has caused ‘outsiders’ to commonly be viewed as part of an ‘inferior’ class in which are competitors for rent distribution and social benefits of the Kuwaiti rentier state. Concurrent to this underlying element of competition for resources, there has been a long history of Pan-Arabism. Understanding the present debates surrounding Kuwaiti national identity cannot disregard the legacies of the pan-Arab movement. Consequently, as a methodological approach, an archival historical review of pan-Arabist publications in Kuwait from 1950-1960 indicates that other groups have been subject to Kuwaiti xenophobia as well, including Iranian immigrants. This paper will trace this history in Kuwait by examining pan-Arabist discourses, (particularly the weekly newspaper al-Tali’a from 1961-1971), in order to understand how pan-Arabism interacts with rentierism, and how this dynamic has affected state-society relations with regards to national identity and privilege.