Indian Ocean Dubai
Indian Ocean Dubai
The Identity Politics of South Asian Immigrants
This chapter discusses the South Asian experience within the Gulf, as well as the politics of inclusion and exclusion that deny the expatriates within the scope of a modern Emirati identity. The South Asian diaspora had arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the country’s oil boom, as their labor had made up for the lack of manpower in the state. However, in more recent times there came a desire for the elite class to establish themselves as the legitimate ruling class, and their efforts in doing so have alienated the South Asian identity from a chance at citizenship within a neoliberal regime. There is, however, a deeper undercurrent of fear that causes the divide and the complacency thereof between Emiratis and immigrants alike—that the promises of capitalism may fail them one day.
Keywords: South Asian diaspora, modern Emirati identity, United Arab Emirates, UAE, South Asian identity, neoliberal regime, citizenship, expatriates, capitalism
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