Expressing Identity through the Dressed Body: Iranian Migrants in the Gulf

Abstract

Historically, communities have always travelled, traded, and intermarried across the Persian Gulf, resulting in the formation of transnational societies and material cultures. This paper focuses on migrants of Iranian origin who have settled in the Gulf Arab states and the expression of their identity through dress. These migrants include Persian merchants and craftsmen known as Ajam; tribal Arab Sunnis from the coastal area of southern Persia who latter resettled in the Gulf states and are known as Hawla; and Baloch, mainly from southern Iran, who speak Balochi. Despite their socio-historical ties with the Gulf states and contribution to the state-building process in the region, the states' emphasis on expressions of Gulf Arab identity has discouraged Iranian migrants from openly demonstrating their own identities and practicing their associated rituals in public. However, some families continue to express these in private spheres, with attitudes differing from family to family, across generations, and according to location. Through an exploration of ethnographic data from the?Gulf, especially the United Arab Emirates and Oman, this paper aims to provide new insights into the ways Iranian migrant communities express belonging between their new national identity and their Iranian origins, and into the struggle to express their heritage through their dressed bodies