Jamal, Areej; (2024) Identity and strategies of belonging among South Asian Migrant Families in Saudi Arabia. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Text Thesis Identity and Belonging Strategies of South Asians in KSA FINAL Submit MARCH 2024.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 January 2029. Download (7MB)

Abstract

This study examines questions of identity and belonging among middle-class South Asian migrant families (including Indians, Pakistani and Bangladeshi) living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), particularly first-generation migrant parents and their second-generation children. In so doing, it uncovers the experiences of an under-researched community in a country which is rapidly transforming but still deemed socially very conservative. So far, scholarship looking at migration in the Gulf has mostly focused on UAE, Bahrain; Kuwait; Qatar and Oman, due to difficulties with research access in Saudi Arabia. Within this scholarship, particular attention has been paid to lower-skilled migration, and thus mostly to men migrating temporarily on their own to contribute to family finances. Indeed, family reunification is less common among lower socio-economic groups and is dependent on handling a complex system of working visas which still formally does not allow permanent residency to non-Saudi citizens. In 2016 new socio-economic and labour market policies have been announced as part of ‘The Saudi Vision 2030’ aimed to open opportunities for migrants’ permanent residency and naturalisation. However, in practice, the acquisition of citizenship rights and permanent residency has remained hard to reach for most migrants. Regardless of this system in place, many South Asian middle-class migrant families have managed to extend their stay in Saudi Arabia for generations without formally acquiring citizenship while also remaining exposed to the risk of repatriation. In this context, little is known about their long-term experiences of settlement in Saudi Arabia, the sense of precarity they face and how they respond to these challenges. Drawing theoretically on scholarship about transnationalism and belonging, the research follows a sequential mixed methods approach based on an online survey (N=1019) of residents in Saudi Arabia from Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi ethnic origins followed by narrative interviews (N=46, including 14 family units) with South Asian migrants from middle-class backgrounds (first-generation migrant parents and one child over 18 years old) in Saudi Arabia. The interviews provided the bulk of the data, while the survey was used to gather background and contextual information about the South Asian migrant population. The research sheds light on how citizenship, identity and belonging are reconfigured along the lines of class, ethnicity, religion, and gender. To make sense of the findings, the study employed the notion of ‘strategic transnationalism’ and suggests that migrants’ identity and belonging were deeply shaped within and beyond the socio-institutional and economic context of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the South Asian countries of origin. Finally, the study particularly highlights how migrants mobilise their resources and capital to make sense of and respond to the structured opportunities and restrictive Saudi migration system. While doing so, they articulate multiple modes of belonging to Saudi Arabia including, emotional, transnational and instrumental dimensions which emerged within the exclusionary context and in light of the temporary nature of their residence in the country. By contributing to the wider structure and agency debates, the study emphasizes the agentic capacity of migrants in Saudi Arabia even within highly structured and restrictive migration systems. Situating the Gulf migrants in transnational perspectives, the study challenges Eurocentric ideas of social and cultural integration and contributes to an understanding of the relationship between migration and family dynamics within a changing South Asian diaspora and in the context of South-to-South migration.

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