TY - JOUR
T1 - Race, space, place
T2 - Notes on the racialisation and spatialisation of commercial sex work in Dubai, UAE
AU - Mahdavi, Pardis
N1 - Funding Information:
The research for this study would not have been possible without the generous support of the Pomona College Faculty Research Grant, the American Council of Learned Societies and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. I am grateful to my field research assistants throughout the process including Christine Sargent, Abby DiCarlo and Sarah Burgess as well as my research assistant in Washington, DC, Alexandra Fries. I also wish to thank Paasha Mahdavi, Lara Deeb and Christine Sargent for their feedback on various drafts of the paper. This paper was initially a presentation given at a panel on ‘Re-imagining the Gulf City’ organised by Neha Vora and Andrew Gardner at the American Anthropological Association meetings in 2009. I am grateful to the organisers of the panel and the audience for their comments in the piece in its initial form. Finally, I wish to thank my incredible interviewees who made Dubai feel like home throughout my stay.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - This paper focuses on the perceived racialisation and resultant spatialisation of commercial sex in Dubai. In recent years, the sex industry in Dubai has grown to include women from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, East Asia and Africa. With the increase in sex workers of different nationalities has come a form of localised racism that is embedded in structures and desires seen within specific locations. The physical spatialisation of sex work hinges on perceived race and produces distinct income generating potential for women engaged in the sex industry in Dubai. The social and physical topography of Dubai is important in marginalising or privileging these various groups of sex workers, which correlates race, space and place with rights and assistance. I begin with a description of the multidirectional flows of causality between race, space, place and demand. I then discuss how these various groups are inversely spatialised within the discourse on assistance, protection and rights. The findings presented here are based on ethnographic research conducted with transnational migrants in the UAE in 2004, 2008 and 2009.
AB - This paper focuses on the perceived racialisation and resultant spatialisation of commercial sex in Dubai. In recent years, the sex industry in Dubai has grown to include women from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, East Asia and Africa. With the increase in sex workers of different nationalities has come a form of localised racism that is embedded in structures and desires seen within specific locations. The physical spatialisation of sex work hinges on perceived race and produces distinct income generating potential for women engaged in the sex industry in Dubai. The social and physical topography of Dubai is important in marginalising or privileging these various groups of sex workers, which correlates race, space and place with rights and assistance. I begin with a description of the multidirectional flows of causality between race, space, place and demand. I then discuss how these various groups are inversely spatialised within the discourse on assistance, protection and rights. The findings presented here are based on ethnographic research conducted with transnational migrants in the UAE in 2004, 2008 and 2009.
KW - Dubai
KW - Migration
KW - Sex work
KW - Trafficking
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77957919367&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77957919367&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13691058.2010.512393
DO - 10.1080/13691058.2010.512393
M3 - Article
C2 - 20936551
AN - SCOPUS:77957919367
SN - 1369-1058
VL - 12
SP - 943
EP - 954
JO - Culture, Health and Sexuality
JF - Culture, Health and Sexuality
IS - 8
ER -