Comments | nativeinformant: Mixed feelings

nativeinformant

Mixed feelings

Jun 17, 2007 22:53

So, a week from now I will be sitting in my cramped BA seat and drinking as many free bad cocktails as possible -- on my way to Dubai! It was such a wonderful and awful year living there last year, both at the same time. And I feel like I was such a different person there than I am at home (and have become such a different person for having had the ( Read more... )

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chu_hi June 18 2007, 07:08:57 UTC

SO familiar with what you're saying. As much as people address culture shock and "reverse culture shock," little is said about the ricochet thing. Returning repeatedly to a discarded ways of life is traumatic; even just bracing yourself for it is traumatic.

You'll see it differently than most people who leave Dubai and return, because of your microscope. But I bet you'll fall in love with it again. We'll have a terrific time. =D

tessa2787 June 18 2007, 08:20:16 UTC

yes..waxing nostalgic about dubai when i went back home to the philippines to give birth to my baby..waxing poetic about dubai when kuwait offers me a whole lot more financially..dubai and i--its a love affair. and i am one of the concubines.
i dont even get homesick for Manila..heh

istara June 18 2007, 08:54:35 UTC

Western expats who feel perfectly entitled to make three times more money than similarly qualified Asians

I don't think most of us feel entitled. I certainly don't. We take the money, but there is always a sense of unease and guilt about it.

nativeinformant June 18 2007, 15:59:06 UTC

Notice I didn't say ALL Western expats. But I don't think you are in the majority in your sensitivity and understanding of the situation, at least from what I have experienced. I think a lot of people like living large and feeling important in ways they can't back home -- like having huge accomodations, housemaids, drivers, delivery services, etc. All things that are done by underpaid non-Western labor. This is not a criticism from the outside in. I myself easily become complacent and enjoy these very things. So it is more an exploration of my shifting subjectivities between here and there, and how easily I fit into such different spaces. Case in point: Here in CA I would *never* go to a bar or club that practiced racist entry policies, but I do so in Dubai regularly (sure I feel guilt about it, but that still does not make it ok).

istara June 18 2007, 16:08:56 UTC

Yes - I would agree that a very large number certainly don't notice or care, and certainly some feel entitled to it. I've heard the argument that "our qualifications are better than theirs" and "our housing is more expensive - you can buy a farm in India for a hundred dollars" and "there's so many of them, we're more valuable, we know western ways". Believe me that even if I haven't heard it all, I've heard enough ( ... )

nativeinformant June 18 2007, 16:17:13 UTC

I'd say you of all people are doing a lot to make people aware of these issues and to change them. I get so annoyed at those who post on your blog and make it seem like speaking out is just another form of Western chauvanism, etc. And it is not just Western expats, it is all middle and upper class expats that are part of this system. I can't tell you how many Indian biz people I spoke to while I was in Dubai who repeated all those same lines you quoted above, about the fact that they were exploiting their own people (sometimes from their own villages or even extended families!). My big point that I am trying to explore academically is that a state (esp a small one like the UAE with actually a very limited military and police force) cannot keep this kind of segregated system going on its own. It actually requires the complicity of expatriates in order to maintain the social and legal divisions that are there. BTW, speaking of change, which I do think is occurring, and as you know I think blogging is a part of, can wee finally do that ( ... )

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