How Western Residents in Riyadh and Dubai Produce and Challenge Exceptionalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23710893 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amélie Le Renard (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Pages | 55-79 |
| Publication date | 2020-08-15 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Publisher | Cornell University Press (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.7591/cornell/9781501750298.003.0003 |
| OpenAlex | W3122451876 |
| ISBN | 9781501750298 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
This chapter discusses how exceptionalist discourses contribute to the production of distinctive Western subjectivities, and thus social groupings and hierarchies, in two cities of the Arabian Peninsula: Riyadh and Dubai. It considers two research projects. The first one, conducted in 2012, focused on nationalization policies in a multinational, joint-venture Saudi–French bank in Riyadh. It highlights Euro-North American managers' discourses on Saudi (male and female) employees. The second research project, conducted between 2012 and 2015, initially focused on Western residents in Dubai's professional organizations; however, lifestyles, domesticities, and sociability became a prominent part of the research. The chapter analyzes two prominent themes within the narratives collected among residents with French passports: backward sexism in Saudi Arabia, on the one hand, and slavery-like exploitation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the other hand. These two tropes construct the widespread self-representation of Westerners as outsiders who are more advanced, both professionally and morally.
Archaeology · Art · Exceptionalism · Geography · Multinational corporation · Narrative · Peninsula · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics) · Sociology · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Socioeconomic Development in MENA
| Citations per year | 1.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |