Privileged but Immobile: Citizenship and Career Path of the Youths of Bicultural Families in Kuwait

Abstract

This paper aims to depict privilegedness yet immobilities of the youths of bicultural families on their citizenship and career path, particularly on the second generations who have roots of Filipino traits on one side and Kuwaiti or other Arab traits on other side. It has been regarded that the society in GCC countries including Kuwait are segregated according to nationality and social classes, thus the nationals were deemed to be the most privileged and have the most rights among other peoples in the society. These perceptions, however, may not be necessarily true from the point of view of second generation of the bicultural families with GCC nationalities, especially Asian second generations who hold Kuwaiti passports. What hardships and privileges do they face; how are they different between men and women or between generations; how do they deal with mainstream society or the community of mix-culture children; and how do they plan their future and utilize their social capitals? To answer the questions above, this research examines the consciousness on the citizenship (and other rights) and survival strategies of the migrant, intermarried mothers and their children in Kuwait. By so doing, the research tries to clarify in what way the youths try to acquire sense of belonging in such unstable world of the 21st century and add variety to construct the concept of "GCC second generation"