| Honorific Prefix: | Dr |
| Hessa al-Rifa'i | |
| Birth Date: | 1947 |
| Citizenship: | Kuwait |
| Education: | Indiana State University |
| Employer: | Kuwait University |
Hessa al-Rifa'i (Arabic: حصة الرفاعي) (born 1947) is a folklorist and poet from Kuwait.
Al-Rifa'i was born in Kuwait City in 1947.[1] She studied for a BA in Arabic at Cairo University. She was awarded an MA in Folk Literature in 1971. She then went on to study for a PhD at Indiana State University, which she was awarded in 1982. In it she studied the impact of modernisation on the folk traditions of Kuwait.[2]
Since 1982, al-Rifa'i has worked as a professor in the Department of Arabic Language at Kuwait University. Her poetry and her research are published in both English and Arabic.[3] [4] She lives in Kuwait.
Al-Rifa'i is an expert in the culture and history of sea-songs and shanties, from Kuwait and the Persian Gulf region.[5] She studied has studied their musical structure, demonstrating that they follow Arabic melodic structures.[6] She has also studied the movement of Arabic musical traditions across the Mediterranean to Andalusia.[7] As well as the musical heritage of sea-shanties, al-Rifa'i has studied the cultural practices that go alongside: for example women performing rituals, such as placing a bar of hot iron in the sea, to ensure the safe return of fishermen. In addition, al-Rifa'i studies comparative folk literature, including the Cinderella narrative in Kuwaiti tradition.[8] She has worked on the legacy of the folk-poet Zaid Al-Harb.[9]
Al-Rifa'i is a poet herself and has published four books of poetry.