MIGRANTS’ IDENTITY: A STUDY OF SECOND GENERATION MIGRANT LABOR IN QATAR

Abstract

Second generation migrants who were born or grew up in Qatar and studied in the same schools and environment with their Qatari counterparts represent a different case than migrant labor workers who move to Qatar through a sponsorship agreement for temporary purposes. The identity construction of second generation of middle class migrants is an issue that requires a further research since the research on international migration in the GCC countries tends to focus on low-income migrant workers with regard to human rights issues and kafala (sponsorship) agreement. There is a lack of research which intends to analyze the perceptions of second generation migrants about the characteristics of their identity and, their commonalities and differences with Qatari youth. This study mainly questions the identity construction process of second generation migrants in Qatar, how they reshape their identity and to what extent they can narrow the social gap between their Qatari counterparts and themselves.