Gridlock: Labor, Migration, and Human Trafficking in Dubai

by Pardis Mahdavi

The images of human trafficking are all too often reduced to media tales of helpless young women taken by heavily accented, dark-skinned captors—but the reality is a far cry from this stereotype. In the Middle East, Dubai has been accused of being a hotbed of trafficking. Pardis Mahdavi, however, draws a more complicated and more personal picture of this city filled with migrants. Not all migrant workers are trapped, tricked, and abused. Like anyone else, they make choices to better their lives, though the risk of ending up in bad situations is high.

Legislators hoping to combat human trafficking focus heavily on women and sex work, but there is real potential for abuse of both male and female migrants in a variety of areas of employment—whether on the street, in a field, at a restaurant, or at someone's house. Gridlock explores how migrants' actual experiences in Dubai contrast with the typical discussions—and global moral panic—about human trafficking.

Mahdavi powerfully contrasts migrants' own stories with interviews with U.S. policy makers, revealing the gaping disconnect between policies on human trafficking and the realities of forced labor and migration in the Persian Gulf. To work toward solving this global problem, we need to be honest about what trafficking is—and is not—and to finally get past the stereotypes about trafficked persons so we can really understand the challenges migrant workers are living through every day.

Genres: Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published April 13, 2011

Reviews

[Jillian]

i'm not rating this because i don't actually know if the author rectifies what i see as a major problem (made it 51% through) but it's like... yes. the main point -- that the (Western/US-pushed) discourse around trafficking is Not Good and actively harmful to those "trafficked" (or who came willingly but abused by employers etc) -- is great. HOWEVER, she says something along the lines of "i'm not saying there's no sex trafficking, but i didn't meet any women trafficked for sex and i talked to two dozen sex workers," and, well, okay? i realize that some of the women she interviewed are happy and like doing sex work, but there were women who said things like "this wasn't my first choice" and are pretty obviously not happy, and i'm sure some people disagree with me but sex work isn't like having a shitty hourly job somewhere you hate -- if you don't like doing it, that's a problem? these women, and this is made very clear, are choosing to come to dubai, yes, but what choice do they have when the domestic or mall job their middleman says they are going to have isn't paying what they were told it would? when their employer doesn't pay them and abuses them and takes their passport? is it really a choice to go into sex work when you need money and your other options are what? the part when i gave up was when she says “Gloria’s strategy of increasing her income by providing sexual favors to her employer should be read as just that, a strategy and a deliberate and well-reasoned act of income generation.” NO. gloria is an overseas filipina worker, who was placed by an expensive (white british) middleman who she owes a lot of money to with her (white british) employer. she has several kids at home to support (why she went over in the first place) and needs to pay off her debt to the middleman. this should be read as 1) how women's sexualities, especially those of woc, are commodified for consumption by white dudes who are into the ""exotic"" 2) the power imbalance here is g r o s s so g r o s s and 3) for a book that discusses structural violence it's kind of missing the point that a "choice" between unemployment/abuse/not being able to adequately provide for children+family members/whatever and sex work isn't a "choice" in terms of not dying from hunger??? i'm not taking away from women who chose to sex work, who like doing sex work, but when it's not something you want to do but you don't have another viable option to live??? that's coerced -- not by a gun to your head, but by some sort of structural violence (from sexism, capitalism, colonialism, etc) and glossing over that to make your point? it's structural violence that sex work is the most lucrative option for women. no thanks.

[Luisa نور · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very important book on a place defined most of the times by clichés ... "Human trafficking in Dubaï", the title says it all, but it breaks some stereotypes, and this is great. A most imporant research to discover what is the really of migrants workers in Dubaï, and how reality is so much more complex than your average TV report on this place.
You discover through the lives of differents migrants the reality of their lives, more or less terrible, but not always as you would expect. And how international policies are most of the time not helping at all in solving the problem, but excarcebating it by refusing to take into account other ways of solving problems, ways that don't fit in for example the official US understanding of it (as exemplified by the TIP).
All in all, you discover the "behind the curtains" of a country that is asked to do in a few years what most countries have done in centuries, and how the money is the key factor, for better or worse, in understanding lives and people's decisions, regardless of their background and nationalities.

[Seleucid · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of personal stories from Dubai's Migrant Labor Force, may it be construction, retail, domestic work or sex work. Trying to give a face to Dubai's 80% and challenges us to deepen our insight to the grinder, far away from our prepackaged stereotypes. An enjoyable read.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meticulous anecdotal research in this staggeringly candid piece of non-fiction. Gripping from start to end, the academic is brutally frank about a sensitive and controversial subject. I especially appreciated the emphasis on potentially straightforward solutions, but would've loved to hear more about coerced and forced trafficking.

[Michelle Faverio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was supposed to read this for a class a few years back. Really well-written research on migration and trafficking, and its many misconceptions/conflations. She does this also by giving voice to actual experiences and highlighting the many holes in current policy. Glad I picked it back up.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The italicized narrative parts drove me insane and were luckily fewer and fewer as the book wore on because I found them almost unreadable. I understand that they served the function of parables in some sense, but I would have far preferred the format of the rest of the book. Overall, I felt the information was pretty repetitive and far too focused on sex work. I came to the book expecting a much larger portion to be on other types of labor, so that was kind of disappointing for me.

[Lance D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Passionate and intimate political anthropological portrayal of how global policy regimes against human trafficking can backfire and harm those they intend to protect. A fascinating introduction to Emirati economic and social policy that avoids both apologetics and condemnation.