ABSTRACT
Recent mass emigration to the Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates has not only allowed for the rapid economic expansion for the Gulf and ‘sender’ countries, but at the same time it has also contributed to various vivid and diverse cultural productions in the arts and humanities. Yet, the current dominant discourse on Gulf diaspora is primarily filtered through the lens of economic labor and its rights. In what ways do the arts and humanities, especially the cultural production of narratives that create sites of interpretation, enhance the policy-oriented, economic and sociological discourse on Gulf emigration? How do they shape a culture of community and citizenship based on an ethic that goes beyond legal status and economic standing?
This chapter will examine how cultural production of narratives that create sites of interpretation also work alongside the institutional approach to record varying relationships between cultural meaning and social values in the Gulf as they shape civic agents who contribute to the creation of public opinion and the definition of communal interest. Thus, while the existing discourse on Gulf emigration may contribute to institutionalizing a formal ‘archive’ on Gulf emigration, its ‘affective’ presence – the human experiences that complements these institutional practices, work alongside to provide a ‘counter-archive’ that not only act as testimony to history by imaginatively recording it, but also to provide aspirational goals to creatively transform human relations and historical practices.
