TY - JOUR
T1 - From centered to distributed belonging
T2 - a study of ‘homing’ among citizens and residents in the United Arab Emirates
AU - O’Connor, Paul
N1 - Funding Information:
I would like to acknowledge the support of United Arabic Emirates University in conducting the research upon which this article is based, which was funded under Research Start-up Grant no. G00002644. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the research assistants who contributed to the project, and without whose work it could not have been completed: Khassiba Aljaberi, Aysha Al Nuaimi, Buthaina Alkaabi, and Maimouna Alabdulsalam.
Funding Information:
This article draws on research which was funded by United Arab Emirates University under research start-up grant code G00002644. I would like to acknowledge the support of United Arab Emirates University, financial and otherwise, in this research. I would like to acknowledge the support of United Arabic Emirates University in conducting the research upon which this article is based, which was funded under Research Start-up Grant no. G00002644. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the research assistants who contributed to the project, and without whose work it could not have been completed: Khassiba Aljaberi, Aysha Al Nuaimi, Buthaina Alkaabi, and Maimouna Alabdulsalam.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The United Arab Emirates has experienced massive social change within a relatively short period of time since the commercial exploitation of oil began in the 1960s. This has been accompanied by large-scale inward migration, with non-nationals comprising 88.5% of the population and an even higher proportion of the workforce. The attainment of citizenship is extremely difficult and non-citizens’ residence in the country is conditional on their employment, resulting in a high turnover of population. This makes the UAE a fascinating case study of ‘homing’ in the context of a world where mobility, rather than settlement, is increasingly the norm. This article is based on a large-scale, mixed-methods study of homing among both Emirati nationals and resident professionals undertaken from 2018 to 2020. It conceptualises their differential strategies of home-making along a scale from ‘centred’ to ‘distributed’ experiences of home and deploys the theoretical lens of liminality to explore the implications of ‘dwelling-in-mobility’.
AB - The United Arab Emirates has experienced massive social change within a relatively short period of time since the commercial exploitation of oil began in the 1960s. This has been accompanied by large-scale inward migration, with non-nationals comprising 88.5% of the population and an even higher proportion of the workforce. The attainment of citizenship is extremely difficult and non-citizens’ residence in the country is conditional on their employment, resulting in a high turnover of population. This makes the UAE a fascinating case study of ‘homing’ in the context of a world where mobility, rather than settlement, is increasingly the norm. This article is based on a large-scale, mixed-methods study of homing among both Emirati nationals and resident professionals undertaken from 2018 to 2020. It conceptualises their differential strategies of home-making along a scale from ‘centred’ to ‘distributed’ experiences of home and deploys the theoretical lens of liminality to explore the implications of ‘dwelling-in-mobility’.
KW - Home
KW - UAE
KW - belonging
KW - homing
KW - liminality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105175632&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85105175632&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17450101.2021.1916986
DO - 10.1080/17450101.2021.1916986
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105175632
SN - 1745-0101
VL - 16
SP - 612
EP - 627
JO - Mobilities
JF - Mobilities
IS - 4
ER -