Home for the Holidays: The Role of Performances in BuildinganIndian Community in the Persian Gulf
Author Name
Andrea Grace Wright
Author Address
Andrea Grace Wright, PhD, Assistant Professor, The College of William and Mary, Department of Anthropology, Program in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, +1 (510) 325-8941,
[email protected]
Keywords
Anthropology, History, Arabic-speaking Persian Gulf, Performance, Community, Citizenship, Culture
Abstract
An examination of Indian migration to the Gulf Cooperative Council States offers new critical approaches to understanding interactionsbetween migrants, the nation-state, and supra-national entities. Most migrants to the Gulf understand their migration to be temporary. In addition, the host countries do not, as a rule, grant citizenship to migrants. As a result, many Indian migrants feel they are outsiders to Gulf societies, and this experience is prevalent even among Indian citizens who have spent their entire lives in the Gulf. Many of these long-term Indian migrants find meaningful cultural and social grounding in Indian voluntary associations located in the Gulf States. Often voluntary associations are composed of individuals from a single state in India and who share a common language. These associations provide some social services, host events, and coordinate celebrations of religious and national holidays. These activities orient participants towards their “home” or native place. In addition, events work to represent the community to others living in the Gulf. Central elements of these events are cultural performances by members of the community. These performances are carefully coordinated in order to reinforce the community through the strengthening of the economic and social ties. In this paper, I use ethnographic and archival material collected in the United Arab Emirates and India in order to examine how these voluntary associations and the performances that they host structure interactions between Indian citizens, the Indian government, and the UAE government. I argue that these performancesare spaces and times in which identity, community, and citizenship are formulated and re-presented.
Conference
International Conference on "Global Migration: Rethinking Skills, Knowledge and Culture"