Friday 18 June 2010, 10:00-18:00

Queen Elizabeth House, 3 Mansfield Road, Meeting Room A

10:00-10:45 A theoretical challenge: is the Gulf the exception in migration theories?

Introduction by Hein de Haas, Hélène Thiollet and Leïla Vignal

10:45-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-13:00 Session 1. The political economy of migration in the Gulf

Martin Ruhs (Oxford University): ‘Labour immigration policies in the Gulf: economics, politics and ethics'

Philip Marfleet (University of East London): ‘The politics of labour migration from Egypt to the Gulf states'

Ghada Fayed (Doctoral Student, Oxford University): ‘Macroeconomic effects of remittances outflows from the GCC'

Alaa al-Hamarneh (Mainz University, Germany): ‘Modes, backgrounds and political economy of migration of Europeans of Arab origins 
(and bi-national Arabs) to the GCC countries'

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-14:45 Spaces and transnational networks in Gulf migration: from regional integration to global perspectives

Introduction by Hein de Haas, Hélène Thiollet and Leïla Vignal

14:45-15:00 Coffee break

15:00-17:15 Session 2. Cities, cosmopolitanism and transnational networks

Marina de Regt (International Institute of Social History, Netherlands): ‘Anthropological insights on female domestic workers' trajectories from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian peninsula'

Nelida Fuccaro (SOAS, London): ‘Migration and urban integration in the Gulf since the 1970s'

Amin Moghadam (Doctoral Student, Lyon University, France): ‘Migration, metropolisation, cosmopolism in the Gulf: the case of Persian settlers'

Andrew Gardner (Qatar University, Qatar): ‘Labor camps, social segregation, and urban space in the Gulf'

Philippe Venier (Angers University, France): ‘Indians in UAE and Kuwait: socio-spatial construction and sense of belonging'

17:15-18:00 Wrap-up session

Conveners: Hein de Haas (IMI, QEH), Hélène Thiollet (DPIR/Sc Po), Leïla Vignal (MEC/Oriental Studies)

Thursday 17 June 2010, 5:00 pm

Queen Elizabeth House, 3 Mansfield Road, Seminar Room 1

Film screening: ‘Young and Invisible'

IMI is showing the film ‘Young and Invisible: African domestic workers in Yemen', by Arda Nederveen and Marina de Regt .

While the employment of migrant domestic workers in the oil-producing countries of the Arabian Peninsula is well-known, few people know that also in a poor country like Yemen mainly migrant women are employed as domestics. Why is there a demand for paid domestic labour in Yemen and who fills this demand? Deeqa came as a refugee from Somalia, leaving her four children behind; Ethiopian Hiwot joined her sister who was already working in Yemen; and Helen, who is of mixed Ethiopian/Eritrean descent, came via an illegal recruitment agent. They share the type of work, but have different stories to tell...