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Migrant Dreams: Egyptian Workers in the Gulf States
An intimate portrait of Egyptian migrants' lives and hopes, and their return home
A vivid ethnography of Egyptian migrants to the Arab Gulf states, Migrant Dreams is about the imagination which migration thrives on, and the hopes and ambitions generated by the repeated experience of leaving and returning home.
What kind of dreams for a good or better life drives labor migrants? What does being a migrant worker do to one’s hopes and ambitions? How does the experience of migration to the Gulf, with its attendant economic and legal precarities, shape migrants’ particular dreams of a better life? What do those dreams―be they realistic and productive, or fantastic and unlikely―do to the social worlds of the people who pursue them, and to their families and communities back home upon their return?
Based on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork and conversations with Egyptian men from mostly low-income rural backgrounds who migrated as workers to the Gulf, returned home, and migrated again over a period of about a decade, this fine-grained study explores and engages with these questions and more, as the men reflect on their strivings and the dreams they hope to fulfill. Throughout the book, Samuli Schielke highlights the story of one man, Tawfiq, who is particularly gifted at analyzing his own situation and struggles, resulting in a richly nuanced account that will appeal not only to Middle East scholars, but to anyone interested in the lived lives of labor migrants and what their experiences ultimately mean to them.
A vivid ethnography of Egyptian migrants to the Arab Gulf states, Migrant Dreams is about the imagination which migration thrives on, and the hopes and ambitions generated by the repeated experience of leaving and returning home.
What kind of dreams for a good or better life drives labor migrants? What does being a migrant worker do to one’s hopes and ambitions? How does the experience of migration to the Gulf, with its attendant economic and legal precarities, shape migrants’ particular dreams of a better life? What do those dreams―be they realistic and productive, or fantastic and unlikely―do to the social worlds of the people who pursue them, and to their families and communities back home upon their return?
Based on ten years of ethnographic fieldwork and conversations with Egyptian men from mostly low-income rural backgrounds who migrated as workers to the Gulf, returned home, and migrated again over a period of about a decade, this fine-grained study explores and engages with these questions and more, as the men reflect on their strivings and the dreams they hope to fulfill. Throughout the book, Samuli Schielke highlights the story of one man, Tawfiq, who is particularly gifted at analyzing his own situation and struggles, resulting in a richly nuanced account that will appeal not only to Middle East scholars, but to anyone interested in the lived lives of labor migrants and what their experiences ultimately mean to them.
154 pages, Paperback
Published April 7, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 2, 2025
I really appreciated this book because it highlights, although not explicitly, the exploitative nature of Egyptian migrants, and migrant workers in general, in the Arab Gulf States. The researcher does a great job at utilizing extensive, qualitative research practices, to highlight the differences between the experiences of migrant workers, particularly utilizing their nationalities as the determiner for unifying of workers.
On another note, I appreciated the researcher's use of keeping original Arabic words and explaining them to the work's English audience since many of the words didn't have direct translations.
Overall, very useful for my research!
On another note, I appreciated the researcher's use of keeping original Arabic words and explaining them to the work's English audience since many of the words didn't have direct translations.
Overall, very useful for my research!
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March 2, 2023uni
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews