Constructing Qatar: Migrant Narratives from the Margins of the Global System

by Yogamaya Mantha, Elizabeth Jose, Marwa Saleh

Every year, tens of thousands of men and women from South Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world journey to Qatar and the other petroleum-rich states of the Arabian peninsula to work. As construction workers, drivers, servants, accountants, shopkeepers, custodians, general laborers, and countless other vocations, these men and women toil in relative obscurity. Constructing Qatar is an attempt to illuminate the experiences and perspectives of these transnational labor migrants. The stories carry the reader from the villages of Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and many other places to the labor camps of Qatar. The chapters were authored by six researchers: Elma Atic, Nora Biary, Zaid Haque, Elizabeth Jose, Yogamaya Mantha and Marwa Saleh. In total, the book contains eighteen meticulously crafted migration stories, two photo essays by Kristin Giordano, and an introduction by editors Andrew Gardner (University of Puget Sound) and Autumn Watts (Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar).

129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2012

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book consists of a highly readable series of first-person accounts of migrant workers in Qatar, rather than the dry, academic tome I had expected when I bought it. The stories, recorded by student researchers, succeed in providing a look at the human side of group that's often portrayed a mass of faceless victims, and in doing so gives them a bit more dignity and agency than they're usually afforded.

The book doesn't build towards anything--there's no narrative link between the stories, no overarching analysis of the forces that act on their lives, no delving too deeply into any of the accounts, and no peering into the complicity of the Qatari government in the poor working conditions the book describes--so it feels in the end as if there's something missing. But the book doesn't pretend to be anything more than the simple series of stories it is, and on its own humble terms, it succeeds.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably only of interest to those who know/visit Qatar and confirms what we already know about the labour system. Horrified to learn the Corniche was dug by hand!!