Zahra Babar
Biographic Data
| ID | 1267200 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Zahra Babar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Zahra |
| FAMILY NAME | Babar |
| SIGNATURE | BABAR Z |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgetown University in Qatar |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9180-276X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The Gulf
Making Space for the Gulf by Arang Keshavarzian
Digitizing the Experiences of Migrant Labour in Qatar
This article focuses on the multidisciplinary methodological approaches that undergird the Digitizing Experiences of Migrant Labor in Qatar research project. This project is building a publicly accessible digital archive of oral histories, the first of its kind in the Arabian Peninsula, allowing migrants to narrate their own experiences in their own voices and expanding our understanding of migration in the region. By leveraging digital tools, th…
The buying of freedom
The six monarchies of the Persian Gulf are considered to be the world's third largest hub of international migration, having over the decades drawn millions of labour migrants to occupy a range of jobs across all tiers of the labour market. Despite decades of an unabated inward flow of foreign workers, none of the regional governments consider themselves to be destinations for permanent settlement or immigration. To meet their domestic labour nee…
Migrants from Low-Income Countries have Higher Heat-Health Risk Profiles Compared to Native Workers in Agriculture
The present observational study was conducted to uncover potential differences in the risk of experiencing high occupational heat strain during agriculture work between migrants and their native coworkers, as well as to elucidate the factors that may contribute to such differences. The study took place over the period from 2016 through 2019 and involved monitoring 124 experienced and acclimatized individuals from high-income (HICs), upper-middle-…
The 2022 World Cup and Migrants' Rights in Qatar
Since winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, the Qatari government has channelled billions of dollars into infrastructural development to prepare for the tournament, which has ramped up the country's already high reliance on migrant labour. The international spotlight on migrant labour abuse has also become more intense as the date of the event approaches. Yet, human rights discourses surrounding World Cup 2022 continue to paint a simplistic…
Purveyors of dreams
This paper provides an empirical account of how Pakistani labour recruiters, or ‘overseas employment promotors’ (OEPs), manage the needs and expectations of their migrant-clients while contending with the challenges of state governance. OEPs’ first-hand accounts suggest that they are frustrated by their inability to adequately ensure that the migrants they send to the Persian Gulf will thrive from the experience. OEPs identify three main issues t…
Skilled migration to emerging economies
Here we chart new trends in the globalization of human capital, and the implications of these trends for our current understanding of skilled international labour migration. Existing approaches to skilled migration have developed around the drivers and consequences of global talent mobility to and between traditional destinations in Europe and North America. However, in the emerging economies of South and Southeast Asia and the Arabian Peninsula,…
Mobility and Forced Displacement in the Middle East
The Middle East is currently facing one of its most critical migration challenges, as the region has become the simultaneous producer of and host to the world’s largest population of displaced people. As a result of ongoing conflicts, particularly in Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen, there have been sharp increases in the numbers of the internally displaced, forced migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Despite the burgeoning degree of policy inter…
Labor Migration to the Persian Gulf Monarchies
The six oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf together form one of the most concentrated global sites of international labor migration, with some of the highest densities of non-citizens to citizens seen anywhere in the world. A somewhat unique feature of the region is that while it hosts millions of migrants, it allows almost no access to permanent settlement. Gulf states have hosted large cohorts of migrants for more than half a century but have d…
Gender and mobility
Very little is known about the life experiences of highly skilled female migrants and almost nothing about them outside of Western contexts. This paper attempts to address this knowledge gap by examining the experiences of highly skilled migrant women working in the Persian Gulf monarchy of Qatar. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a sample of highly skilled migrants in Qatar, the paper examines the experiences of highly skilled migrant women in…
Migrant Workers Bear the Pandemic’s Brunt in the Gulf
The six Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf host some of the largest global populations of international labor migrants. As COVID-19 began spreading across the Gulf, migrants made up a large share of the positive cases identified. Migrants’ living and working conditions in the Gulf and other structural vulnerabilities increased their exposure to the disease. Despite the risks of staying in the Gulf, many lower-income migrants preferred to do rath…
Routledge Handbook of Citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa
The Vagaries of the In-Between
There is no precise English equivalent to this Hindustani proverb. A rolling stone gathers no moss, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between a rock and a hard place, torn between two masters—none of these really fit. The dhobi ka kuta is the dog who figuratively and literally runs every day between two places, two obligations, and two choices. Does he stay behind to guard the master's house or does he guard his master as he washes clothes…
Special Issue Introduction
Im/mobile highly skilled migrants in Qatar
Most studies on the mobility of highly skilled migrants have been examined with a framework of global talent mobility and under conditions of neoliberal governance and economic globalization. In this study we challenge the notion of the hypermobile knowledge worker. Utilizing mixed methods, we examine the factors that attracted highly skilled migrants to Qatar and the conditions under which they might leave in the future. Rather than finding a gr…
Working for the Neighbours
The forces and factors driving regional migration have become more complex over time, and traditional explanations for the motivations, attraction, and selection of migrants are no longer sufficient in the study of migration to the Persian Gulf. Qatar, which in the last decade has emerged as one of the Middle East’s fastest-growing economies, provides a sound case study for discussing some of the emerging dynamics of regional labor migration. Thi…
Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC
This volume provides a series of empirically dense analyses of the historical and contemporary dynamics of Arab intra-regional migration to the monarchies of the Persian Gulf, and unravels the ways in which particular social and cultural practices of Arab migrants interact with the host states. Among other things, specific contributions allow us to consider the socioeconomic and political factors that have historically shaped the character of the…
Attitudes of Students in the GCC Region towards the Arab Spring
The purpose of this chapter is to present new empirical research on the Arab Spring and, specifically, to focus on the attitudes of residents of one country in the Middle East towards the Arab Spring. This research was conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been one of the main migrant destinations in the world for the last two decades. This allows for comparisons regarding attitudes towards the Arab Spring across individuals from…
The “Humane Economy”
The Gulf region has emerged as one of the largest hubs of international migration and more recently has also become a site of contestation for debates over the treatment of international labour migrants. This paper reviews the labour migration system in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, studies the unfolding human rights discourse on Gulf migration, and examines how Islamic principles might be applied to the labour reforms taking place in these…
"The "Enemy Within
This article reviews the impact of the Arab Spring on citizenship rights throughout the Gulf states, drawing on both internal and external dimensions of security that have become inextricably linked with notions of who has the right to maintain their citizenship. In particular, the article focuses on the phenomenon of citizenship revocation as a mode of disciplining behavior considered to be inconsistent with established norms of state-citizen re…
Population, Power, and Distributional Politics in Qatar
The peculiar demographic situation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states is assumed to have arisen as a consequence of the unique economic forces prevailing in this sub-region, where large stocks of temporary migrants are active in the overall labor market, and in three states foreigners outnumber the native population. The common understanding is that the influx of migrants to the Gulf countries has been driven by the transformative effec…
The Cost of Belonging
In Qatar, processes of constructing citizenship have been strongly state-driven over the past four decades. This article reviews the primary influences on Qatari citizenship laws, including historical and contemporary social contexts that have impacted the development of relevant legislation. The article argues that the existing financial privileges of Qatari citizenship as well as the presence of a dominant nonnational population have led to an …
The Cost of Belonging
In Qatar, processes of constructing citizenship have been strongly state-driven over the past four decades. This article reviews the primary influences on Qatari citizenship laws, including historical and contemporary social contexts that have impacted the development of relevant legislation. The article argues that the existing financial privileges of Qatari citizenship as well as the presence of a dominant nonnational population have led to an …
The 2022 World Cup and Migrants' Rights in Qatar
Since winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, the Qatari government has channelled billions of dollars into infrastructural development to prepare for the tournament, which has ramped up the country's already high reliance on migrant labour. The international spotlight on migrant labour abuse has also become more intense as the date of the event approaches. Yet, human rights discourses surrounding World Cup 2022 continue to paint a simplistic…
Im/mobile highly skilled migrants in Qatar
Most studies on the mobility of highly skilled migrants have been examined with a framework of global talent mobility and under conditions of neoliberal governance and economic globalization. In this study we challenge the notion of the hypermobile knowledge worker. Utilizing mixed methods, we examine the factors that attracted highly skilled migrants to Qatar and the conditions under which they might leave in the future. Rather than finding a gr…
Skilled migration to emerging economies
Here we chart new trends in the globalization of human capital, and the implications of these trends for our current understanding of skilled international labour migration. Existing approaches to skilled migration have developed around the drivers and consequences of global talent mobility to and between traditional destinations in Europe and North America. However, in the emerging economies of South and Southeast Asia and the Arabian Peninsula,…
The Vagaries of the In-Between
There is no precise English equivalent to this Hindustani proverb. A rolling stone gathers no moss, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between a rock and a hard place, torn between two masters—none of these really fit. The dhobi ka kuta is the dog who figuratively and literally runs every day between two places, two obligations, and two choices. Does he stay behind to guard the master's house or does he guard his master as he washes clothes…
The “Humane Economy”
The Gulf region has emerged as one of the largest hubs of international migration and more recently has also become a site of contestation for debates over the treatment of international labour migrants. This paper reviews the labour migration system in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, studies the unfolding human rights discourse on Gulf migration, and examines how Islamic principles might be applied to the labour reforms taking place in these…
"The "Enemy Within
This article reviews the impact of the Arab Spring on citizenship rights throughout the Gulf states, drawing on both internal and external dimensions of security that have become inextricably linked with notions of who has the right to maintain their citizenship. In particular, the article focuses on the phenomenon of citizenship revocation as a mode of disciplining behavior considered to be inconsistent with established norms of state-citizen re…
The buying of freedom
The six monarchies of the Persian Gulf are considered to be the world's third largest hub of international migration, having over the decades drawn millions of labour migrants to occupy a range of jobs across all tiers of the labour market. Despite decades of an unabated inward flow of foreign workers, none of the regional governments consider themselves to be destinations for permanent settlement or immigration. To meet their domestic labour nee…
The Cost of Belonging
In Qatar, processes of constructing citizenship have been strongly state-driven over the past four decades. This article reviews the primary influences on Qatari citizenship laws, including historical and contemporary social contexts that have impacted the development of relevant legislation. The article argues that the existing financial privileges of Qatari citizenship as well as the presence of a dominant nonnational population have led to an …
Population, Power, and Distributional Politics in Qatar
The peculiar demographic situation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states is assumed to have arisen as a consequence of the unique economic forces prevailing in this sub-region, where large stocks of temporary migrants are active in the overall labor market, and in three states foreigners outnumber the native population. The common understanding is that the influx of migrants to the Gulf countries has been driven by the transformative effec…
Working for the Neighbours
The forces and factors driving regional migration have become more complex over time, and traditional explanations for the motivations, attraction, and selection of migrants are no longer sufficient in the study of migration to the Persian Gulf. Qatar, which in the last decade has emerged as one of the Middle East’s fastest-growing economies, provides a sound case study for discussing some of the emerging dynamics of regional labor migration. Thi…
Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC
This volume provides a series of empirically dense analyses of the historical and contemporary dynamics of Arab intra-regional migration to the monarchies of the Persian Gulf, and unravels the ways in which particular social and cultural practices of Arab migrants interact with the host states. Among other things, specific contributions allow us to consider the socioeconomic and political factors that have historically shaped the character of the…
Attitudes of Students in the GCC Region towards the Arab Spring
The purpose of this chapter is to present new empirical research on the Arab Spring and, specifically, to focus on the attitudes of residents of one country in the Middle East towards the Arab Spring. This research was conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been one of the main migrant destinations in the world for the last two decades. This allows for comparisons regarding attitudes towards the Arab Spring across individuals from…
The “Humane Economy”
The Gulf region has emerged as one of the largest hubs of international migration and more recently has also become a site of contestation for debates over the treatment of international labour migrants. This paper reviews the labour migration system in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, studies the unfolding human rights discourse on Gulf migration, and examines how Islamic principles might be applied to the labour reforms taking place in these…
"The "Enemy Within
This article reviews the impact of the Arab Spring on citizenship rights throughout the Gulf states, drawing on both internal and external dimensions of security that have become inextricably linked with notions of who has the right to maintain their citizenship. In particular, the article focuses on the phenomenon of citizenship revocation as a mode of disciplining behavior considered to be inconsistent with established norms of state-citizen re…
Special Issue Introduction
Im/mobile highly skilled migrants in Qatar
Most studies on the mobility of highly skilled migrants have been examined with a framework of global talent mobility and under conditions of neoliberal governance and economic globalization. In this study we challenge the notion of the hypermobile knowledge worker. Utilizing mixed methods, we examine the factors that attracted highly skilled migrants to Qatar and the conditions under which they might leave in the future. Rather than finding a gr…
Mobility and Forced Displacement in the Middle East
The Middle East is currently facing one of its most critical migration challenges, as the region has become the simultaneous producer of and host to the world’s largest population of displaced people. As a result of ongoing conflicts, particularly in Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen, there have been sharp increases in the numbers of the internally displaced, forced migrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers. Despite the burgeoning degree of policy inter…
Labor Migration to the Persian Gulf Monarchies
The six oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf together form one of the most concentrated global sites of international labor migration, with some of the highest densities of non-citizens to citizens seen anywhere in the world. A somewhat unique feature of the region is that while it hosts millions of migrants, it allows almost no access to permanent settlement. Gulf states have hosted large cohorts of migrants for more than half a century but have d…
Gender and mobility
Very little is known about the life experiences of highly skilled female migrants and almost nothing about them outside of Western contexts. This paper attempts to address this knowledge gap by examining the experiences of highly skilled migrant women working in the Persian Gulf monarchy of Qatar. Drawing on in-depth interviews with a sample of highly skilled migrants in Qatar, the paper examines the experiences of highly skilled migrant women in…
Migrant Workers Bear the Pandemic’s Brunt in the Gulf
The six Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf host some of the largest global populations of international labor migrants. As COVID-19 began spreading across the Gulf, migrants made up a large share of the positive cases identified. Migrants’ living and working conditions in the Gulf and other structural vulnerabilities increased their exposure to the disease. Despite the risks of staying in the Gulf, many lower-income migrants preferred to do rath…
Routledge Handbook of Citizenship in the Middle East and North Africa
The Vagaries of the In-Between
There is no precise English equivalent to this Hindustani proverb. A rolling stone gathers no moss, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between a rock and a hard place, torn between two masters—none of these really fit. The dhobi ka kuta is the dog who figuratively and literally runs every day between two places, two obligations, and two choices. Does he stay behind to guard the master's house or does he guard his master as he washes clothes…
Purveyors of dreams
This paper provides an empirical account of how Pakistani labour recruiters, or ‘overseas employment promotors’ (OEPs), manage the needs and expectations of their migrant-clients while contending with the challenges of state governance. OEPs’ first-hand accounts suggest that they are frustrated by their inability to adequately ensure that the migrants they send to the Persian Gulf will thrive from the experience. OEPs identify three main issues t…
Skilled migration to emerging economies
Here we chart new trends in the globalization of human capital, and the implications of these trends for our current understanding of skilled international labour migration. Existing approaches to skilled migration have developed around the drivers and consequences of global talent mobility to and between traditional destinations in Europe and North America. However, in the emerging economies of South and Southeast Asia and the Arabian Peninsula,…
The 2022 World Cup and Migrants' Rights in Qatar
Since winning the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, the Qatari government has channelled billions of dollars into infrastructural development to prepare for the tournament, which has ramped up the country's already high reliance on migrant labour. The international spotlight on migrant labour abuse has also become more intense as the date of the event approaches. Yet, human rights discourses surrounding World Cup 2022 continue to paint a simplistic…
Migrants from Low-Income Countries have Higher Heat-Health Risk Profiles Compared to Native Workers in Agriculture
The present observational study was conducted to uncover potential differences in the risk of experiencing high occupational heat strain during agriculture work between migrants and their native coworkers, as well as to elucidate the factors that may contribute to such differences. The study took place over the period from 2016 through 2019 and involved monitoring 124 experienced and acclimatized individuals from high-income (HICs), upper-middle-…
The buying of freedom
The six monarchies of the Persian Gulf are considered to be the world's third largest hub of international migration, having over the decades drawn millions of labour migrants to occupy a range of jobs across all tiers of the labour market. Despite decades of an unabated inward flow of foreign workers, none of the regional governments consider themselves to be destinations for permanent settlement or immigration. To meet their domestic labour nee…
Making Space for the Gulf by Arang Keshavarzian
Digitizing the Experiences of Migrant Labour in Qatar
This article focuses on the multidisciplinary methodological approaches that undergird the Digitizing Experiences of Migrant Labor in Qatar research project. This project is building a publicly accessible digital archive of oral histories, the first of its kind in the Arabian Peninsula, allowing migrants to narrate their own experiences in their own voices and expanding our understanding of migration in the region. By leveraging digital tools, th…
The Gulf
Political science (20 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Economics (13 works) · Geography (12 works) · Socioeconomic Development in MENA (11 works) · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (8 works) · Political economy (7 works)