Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Clemens Chay, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Since the discovery of oil in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCG) countries, the sub-region has been deemed the El Dorado of the Middle East, prompting an influx of Asian migrants. The advent of the pandemic, however, has witnessed a dramatic reversal in migration trends. Concerns over the strains on healthcare infrastructure, in addition to a rise in xenophobia, have forced Gulf authorities into either the repatriation of foreign workers, or more creative means of deportation. As the coronavirus outbreak became protracted, the migrant exodus was later framed under the banner of nationalization and executed in varying degrees.

In light of the Gulf’s longstanding reliance on foreign labour, this panel seeks to assess the prospects of their return, the management by sending Asian states, and Gulf-Asia labour relations. Crucially, what are the lessons learnt from the pandemic, which could be potentially translated into realistic changes? Through the expertise of the invited speakers, related topics such as wage protection schemes, the kafala (sponsorship) system’s parallels with other forms of transnational mobilities, and social/systemic/spatial discrimination will also be incorporated into the discussion.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Andrew Gardner is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. A sociocultural anthropologist and ethnographer by training, for the past two decades Andrew’s fieldwork has been focused on the places, peoples and societies that interact in the petroleum-rich states of the Arabian peninsula. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar, South Asia, and between 2008 and 2010 he also served as Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Qatar University. In addition to numerous journal articles and book chapters, he is the author of City of Strangers: Gulf Migration and the Indian Community in Bahrain (Cornell, 2010), which explores the experiences of Indian transnational migrants in Bahrain and the society that hosts them. His current scholarly pursuits explore the juncture between transnational migration, urbanization, and urban planning in Doha, Qatar.

Zahra Babar is Associate Director for Research at Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar. She previously worked for the United Nations Development Program and the International Labour Organization. She has published several articles and book chapters, most recently, “Purveyors of Dreams: Labour Recruiters in the Pakistan to Saudi Arabia Migration Corridor” in Journal of Migration and Development (2020); “Labor Migration in the Persian Gulf” in The Routledge Handbook of Persian Gulf Politics, Ed., Mehran Kamrava (Routledge, 2020); “Migrant labor and human rights in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries” in Why Human Rights Still Matter in Contemporary Global Affairs, Ed., Mahmood Monshipouri, (Routledge, 2020); “Understanding Labour Migration Policies in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries” in Asianization of Migrant Workers in the Gulf Countries, eds. S. Irudaya Rajan and Ginu Zacharia Oommen, (Springer, 2020); and “Gender and Mobility: Qatar’s Highly Skilled Female Migrants in Context” with M. Ewers and N. Khattab, in Migration and Development, (2020). She served as an editor for the volume, Mobility and Forced Displacement in the Middle East (Oxford University Press 2020), editor of the volume Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC (Oxford University Press 2017), and co-editor with M. Kamrava, for Migrant Labour in the Persian Gulf (Columbia University Press/Hurst 2012).

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this webinar has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the webinar.