Kaltham Al-Ghanim

A Portrait of Low-Income Migrants in Contemporary Qatar

Though transnational labor migration in the Gulf States has increasingly been of scholarly interest, that scholarship has to date relied largely on qualitative ethnographic methodologies or small non-representative sampling strategies. This paper presents the findings of a large representative sample of low-income migrant laborers in Qatar. The data describe the basic characteristics of the low-income migrant population in Qatar, the process by which migrants obtain employment, the frequency with which this population of migrants encounters the problems and challenges described by previous ethnographic work, and the role played by nationality, ethnicity, and religion in patterning that experience. While the findings generally affirm many of the claims made in earlier ethnographic studies, they provide a means by which the extent of these problems and challenges can be ascertained more directly.

The relation between spaces and cultural change: supermalls and cultural change in Qatari society

“This publication was made possible by a grant from the Qatar national research fund under its undergraduate research experience program award number UREP 06 - 087 - 5 – 024. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).”

The intellectual frameworks and theoretical limits of Arab feminist thought

This is a critical assessment of the intellectual and theoretical underpinnings of Feminism in the Arab world across the different phases in its evolution. The paper notes what has been achieved in respect of some specific issues but takes the view that overall the movement has failed to transform the views, consciousness and situation of most Arab women. Attempts to incorporate and/or redefine womens aspirations and roles in Islamic terms are seen as having taken over from earlier feminist voices. Where these voices do remain they are confined to a narrow intellectual elite and have failed to galvanize or inform women across the socio-economic spectrum. The article concludes that the contemporary feminist movement is repeating the same errors as in the past by adopting intellectual perspectives that do not suit the intellectual, ideological and value foundations of Arab culture. There is a need, therefore, to revise the intellectual foundations of the movement and make a rapprochement between this curre...