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Based on participant observation within the organizing committee of a beauty pageant produced by the Filipino Club in Bahrain, this paper explores group interactions within Bahrain's multinational population. More specifically, the paper asks whether semi-public events staged by expatriate community organizations serve as nodes of interaction across boundaries of nationality. The first half of the paper describes the transnational context and expatriate community organizations in Bahrain and the type of activities they host. An important distinction is made between activities hosted on the club premises and/or for club members and performance events that are potentially open to non-members. The second half of the paper uses a beauty pageant organized by the Filipino Club to examine how semi-public performance events provide a venue for both the construction of community identity and its potential presentation to other nationalities resident in Bahrain. By describing the range of activities organized by the Filipino Club-from professional networking to aromatherapy classes from Christmas parties to beauty pageants-this research expands our ideas of the nature of expatriate lives in the Gulf. The ethnographic analysis of the beauty pageant demonstrates that semi-public events may not fulfill their potential for reciprocal inter-group communication.
City & SocietyVolume 20, Issue 1 p. 1-4 INTRODUCTION: New Ethnographic Fieldwork among Migrants, Residents and Citizens in the Arab States of the Gulf ANDREW GARDNER, ANDREW GARDNER University of Puget SoundSearch for more papers by this authorSHARON NAGY, SHARON NAGY DePaul UniversitySearch for more papers by this author ANDREW GARDNER, ANDREW GARDNER University of Puget SoundSearch for more papers by this authorSHARON NAGY, SHARON NAGY DePaul UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 July 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-744X.2008.00002.xCitations: 7Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume20, Issue1June 2008Pages 1-4 RelatedInformation
Based on participant observation within the organizing committee of a beauty pageant produced by the Filipino Club in Bahrain, this paper explores group interactions within Bahrain's multinational population. More specifically, the paper asks whether semi-public events staged by expatriate community organizations serve as nodes of interaction across boundaries of nationality. The first half of the paper describes the transnational context and expatriate community organizations in Bahrain and the type of activities they host. An important distinction is made between activities hosted on the club premises and/or for club members and performance events that are potentially open to non-members. The second half of the paper uses a beauty pageant organized by the Filipino Club to examine how semi-public performance events provide a venue for both the construction of community identity and its potential presentation to other nationalities resident in Bahrain. By describing the range of activities organized by the Filipino Club—from professional networking to aromatherapy classes from Christmas parties to beauty pageants—this research expands our ideas of the nature of expatriate lives in the Gulf. The ethnographic analysis of the beauty pageant demonstrates that semi-public events may not fulfill their potential for reciprocal inter-group communication.
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Much has been written describing the pervasive and rapid urbanisation of the Arabian Gulf in the late 20th century. Less attention has been paid to the accompanying growth and diversification of the region's population and residents' experience of the new urbanised spaces. Based on ethnographic research in urban Qatar between 1994 and 2000, this paper describes and compares two distinct principles of social differentiation that characterise Qatar's social and spatial organisation-the distinction between Qatari citizens and foreign nationals, and internal differentiation amongst the Qatari citizenry. Along each of these two axes, meaningful social categories are produced and reproduced by a combination of formal and informal processes, including immigration and citizenship regulations, occupational and economic practices, marriage patterns and residents' attitudes towards diversity and their stereotypes of 'others'. The juxtaposition of these two axes of differentiation highlights the role of official discourse in legitimising ideologies of difference and in shaping residents' experiences of diversity in the newly transnationalised cities of the Arabian Gulf.
Cities from the Arabian Desert: The Building of Jubail and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, by Andrea Pampanini. 209 pages, appendices, maps, illustrations, bibliography, index. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997. $55.00 (Cloth) ISBN 0-275-95594-X - Volume 35 Issue 1
A COMPARISON OF TWO PROJECTS undertaken in Doha, the capital of Qatar, provides an example of how ideas and technologies recommended by foreign consultants are brought into existing local social and political contests and are sometimes transformed in the process. Rather than view urbanization as the handiwork of foreign planners and technicians, the essay argues that the actions leading to the selection and implementation of particular “foreign planned” projects are linked to, and influence, the complex relations between local government agencies and the public. [Planning, foreign consultants, politics, Doha, Qatar]
A COMPARISON OF TWO PROJECTS undertaken in Doha, the capital of Qatar, provides an example of how ideas and technologies recommended by foreign consultants are brought into existing local social and political contests and are sometimes transformed in the process. Rather than view urbanization as the handiwork of foreign planners and technicians, the essay argues that the actions leading to the selection and implementation of particular “foreign planned” projects are linked to, and influence, the complex relations between local government agencies and the public. [Planning, foreign consultants, politics, Doha, Qatar]
Back to Earth: Adobe Houses in Saudi Arabia, by William Facey. 216 pages, color photographs, glossary, bibliography, index. Riyadh: Al-Turath, 1997. $79.50 (Cloth) ISBN 1-900404-13-3 - Volume 33 Issue 1
AN EXAMINATION OF the practice of employing foreign household workers reveals how global and local relations shape social life in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The paper addresses the factors influencing changing patterns of labor recruitment, and then focuses on the reproduction of local social relations through the everyday practices of household labor. Both global and local inequalities are imprinted onto everyday practice through the asymmetrical relations of household labor. The convergence of global and local influences in domestic relations is further shown to shape the spatial distribution of social relations throughout Doha. [Globalization, labor migration, household workers, Middle East, Qatar]
AN EXAMINATION OF the practice of employing foreign household workers reveals how global and local relations shape social life in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The paper addresses the factors influencing changing patterns of labor recruitment, and then focuses on the reproduction of local social relations through the everyday practices of household labor. Both global and local inequalities are imprinted onto everyday practice through the asymmetrical relations of household labor. The convergence of global and local influences in domestic relations is further shown to shape the spatial distribution of social relations throughout Doha. [Globalization, labor migration, household workers, Middle East, Qatar]
This article examines the relationship between house form and appearance and social diversity. The metamorphosis of two features of the Qatari house which operate as loci of communication between occupants and non‐occupants, the majlis (guest reception area) and the exterior ornamentation, is described within the context of increasing social diversity between the 1960s and the 1990s. The manner in which each of these features conveys information to the new range of audiences within the diverse population of Qatar is examined. The article supports the view that differences in the use of a house to signify status are related to the character of social networks and demonstrates that in a dual social system where networks coexist but rarely overlap methods and media of communication through the built environment can be similarly bifurcated.
Studies in Arabian Architecture, by Paolo M. Costa. (Collected Studies Series) 142 pages, b&w plates, illustrations, bibliographies, appendices. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 1994. $140.00 (Cloth) ISBN 0-86078-436-3 - Volume 30 Issue 2
The Life and Times of Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa: Ruler of Bahrain 1942–1961, by Andrew Wheatcroft. 232 pages, b&w photographs, sources, bibliography. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. $59.50 (Cloth) 0-7103-0495-1 - Volume 29 Issue 2
