City of Strangers: Gulf Migration and the Indian Community in Bahrain
"Andrew Gardner'sCity of Strangersis a breath of fresh air. Not only does the book take on an ill-explored subject, but it does so with sharp insight, unyielding clarity, and all the richness that one expects from good ethnographic writing. . . . Gardner explores in depth the multiple dimensions of the Indian community itself and the ways in which different sections of this community position themselves vis-à-vis Bahraini politics and civil society. What results is a more textured picture of the Indian community in Bahrain, one not reduced to a helpless pawn in a broader game of neoliberalism, but that actively participates in fashioning its own identities. . . . The clarity with which Gardner presents his argument, coupled with the book’s conciseness, makes it an excellent addition to reading lists for any course on the Middle East or migration studies at any level."—Fahad Ahmad Bishara,Review of Middle East Studies(Fall 2011)"Andrew M. Gardner expertly combines in-depth ethnography with theoretical sophistication in this important look at the complex linkages between labor, migration, globalization, and the structural violence that accompanies the new world economic order. Gardner follows the labyrinthine paths of migrant workers in the Gulf, drawing on powerful qualitative data to complicate existing assumptions about the lives of skilled and unskilled workers in the Middle East's fastest growing region. Beautifully written and compelling, the book sheds light on a population and area of the world that remains understudied despite its rapid emergence onto the global market."—Pardis Mahdavi, Pomona College, author ofPassionate Uprisings"Amid the dizzying array of changes taking place across the Persian Gulf, Andrew M. Gardner sheds light on the pervasive but little-studied phenomenon of labor migration. With an anthropologist's fine eye for detail, he chronicles the structural violence that migrant workers experience in Bahrain. By mapping the machinery that produces this violence, and how it shapes the experiences of Bahrain’s transnational proletariat, Gardner has produced an extremely effective and useful analysis of labor migration both in Bahrain and elsewhere in the region.City of Strangersis a must-read for anyone interested in the serious study of the Persian Gulf in general and its small sheikdoms in particular."—Mehran Kamrava, Georgetown University"All over the world there is a great trade in people. Men and women move to rich countries for the dangerous, dirty, and demeaning jobs we don't want. They seek work abroad for exactly the same reasons we would if we filled their shoes: to feed their children, to seek opportunity, to escape oppression. But on arrival they find new oppression as second-class citizens suffering under laws reminiscent of the worst of Jim Crow. Andrew M. Gardner lifts the lid on their lives and the many ways that they adapt and resist, as well as the ways they are beaten down. This is the best of inquiry, engaged but clear-headed, analytical yet ready to make clear the injustices suffered."—Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves, author ofDisposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, and coeditor ofTo Plead Our Own Cause"City of Strangerspresents new information about the forces that bear on expatriate workers in Bahrain; Andrew M. Gardner's material on social organizations and newspapers is intriguing. Gardner’s ethnography is compellingly written, and he compares his findings and analysis to other relevant work on the Gulf and on structural violence."—Karen Leonard, University of California Irvine