TY - CHAP
T1 - Migrant Cosmopolitanism in Emirati and Saudi Cities
T2 - Practices and Belonging in Exclusionary Contexts
AU - Thiollet, Hélène
AU - Assaf, Laure
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Mass migration to the Gulf cities has produced, over time, de facto cosmopolitan situations. Even though cosmopolitanism is somewhat present in national narratives and official propaganda, foreign residents face exclusionary contexts where policies and practices keep them excluded from the national community. This chapter unpacks the internal tensions characteristic of cosmopolitanism in the exclusionary contexts of the Gulf by comparing cities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. These tensions operate within migrants’ everyday practices and modes of consumption in urban spaces. We argue that these practices are best understood as a form of segregated cosmopolitanism through which the different migrant communities both acknowledge (and at times consume) urban diversity and maintain certain boundaries. Building upon the analysis of discourses and ethnographic fieldwork in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Jeddah, this research engages with theories of cosmopolitanism from a situated perspective. It moves away from the classical, normative approach to cosmopolitanism and highlights the fragility of everyday cosmopolitan situations.
AB - Mass migration to the Gulf cities has produced, over time, de facto cosmopolitan situations. Even though cosmopolitanism is somewhat present in national narratives and official propaganda, foreign residents face exclusionary contexts where policies and practices keep them excluded from the national community. This chapter unpacks the internal tensions characteristic of cosmopolitanism in the exclusionary contexts of the Gulf by comparing cities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. These tensions operate within migrants’ everyday practices and modes of consumption in urban spaces. We argue that these practices are best understood as a form of segregated cosmopolitanism through which the different migrant communities both acknowledge (and at times consume) urban diversity and maintain certain boundaries. Building upon the analysis of discourses and ethnographic fieldwork in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Jeddah, this research engages with theories of cosmopolitanism from a situated perspective. It moves away from the classical, normative approach to cosmopolitanism and highlights the fragility of everyday cosmopolitan situations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105649793&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85105649793&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-67365-9_12
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-67365-9_12
M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)
AN - SCOPUS:85105649793
T3 - IMISCOE Research Series
SP - 151
EP - 165
BT - IMISCOE Research Series
PB - Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
ER -