Re-Reading the History of Labour & Political Economy within the Arabian Gulf

The word exceptional is often used to describe the Arabian Gulf – exceptional hydrocarbon wealth, exceptional demographics, and an exceptional system of managing labour, known as kafala. But what if this system is not exceptional? What if it has been shaped by the region's entanglements with Britain’s colonial interventions in the region in the 1800s; entanglements that shaped the entry of the Gulf into the global capitalist markets, transformed labour demographics and mobility, and which enabled the region’s ruling elites to adapt and appropriate labour dynamics to their favour? 

This presentation explores this question by re-reading the political history of labour within the region. 

It shows how the curtailed mobility of migrants today in the Gulf is mimetic of the immobility of pearl divers in the 19th century; and how these continuities, which stretch across time, point to the region’s deep interconnections with global histories of colonialism and capitalism.

Date & Time

Tuesday 17th November 11am-12pm 

Chair:
Prof. Karima Laachir (ANU)

Format:
In-person at the CAIS Lecture Theatre

or

Online via Zoom

https://anu.zoom.us/j/88233888792?pwd=g2VDG8B06QBXj1qgxMh2XfyFPILjaY.1

All welcome