Othering the expat majority: Qatari junior academics’ identity work at the interface of migration and institutional reform

Abstract

Qatar’s development is intertwined with migration, resulting in the native population forming a minority. Zooming in on the academic world, which is in the midst of reform processes, we investigate the impact of the expat majority on the identity work of Qatari female junior academics. Drawing on a narrative as social practice approach, we study ‘othering'-strategies in the stories of three interviewees. We demonstrate how their category work constructs moral superiority for the Qatari in-group, while implicitly aligning with the out-group's knowledge-related superiority. In this way, their identity work is emblematic for the government’s Qatarization scheme.