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Based on participant observation within the organizing committee of a beauty pageant produced by the Filipino Club in Bahrain, this paper explores group interactions within Bahrain's multinational population. More specifically, the paper asks whether semi-public events staged by expatriate community organizations serve as nodes of interaction across boundaries of nationality. The first half of the paper describes the transnational context and expatriate community organizations in Bahrain and the type of activities they host. An important distinction is made between activities hosted on the club premises and/or for club members and performance events that are potentially open to non-members. The second half of the paper uses a beauty pageant organized by the Filipino Club to examine how semi-public performance events provide a venue for both the construction of community identity and its potential presentation to other nationalities resident in Bahrain. By describing the range of activities organized by the Filipino Club—from professional networking to aromatherapy classes from Christmas parties to beauty pageants—this research expands our ideas of the nature of expatriate lives in the Gulf. The ethnographic analysis of the beauty pageant demonstrates that semi-public events may not fulfill their potential for reciprocal inter-group communication.

Much has been written describing the pervasive and rapid urbanisation of the Arabian Gulf in the late 20th century. Less attention has been paid to the accompanying growth and diversification of the region's population and residents' experience of the new urbanised spaces. Based on ethnographic research in urban Qatar between 1994 and 2000, this paper describes and compares two distinct principles of social differentiation that characterise Qatar's social and spatial organisation-the distinction between Qatari citizens and foreign nationals, and internal differentiation amongst the Qatari citizenry. Along each of these two axes, meaningful social categories are produced and reproduced by a combination of formal and informal processes, including immigration and citizenship regulations, occupational and economic practices, marriage patterns and residents' attitudes towards diversity and their stereotypes of 'others'. The juxtaposition of these two axes of differentiation highlights the role of official discourse in legitimising ideologies of difference and in shaping residents' experiences of diversity in the newly transnationalised cities of the Arabian Gulf.

A COMPARISON OF TWO PROJECTS undertaken in Doha, the capital of Qatar, provides an example of how ideas and technologies recommended by foreign consultants are brought into existing local social and political contests and are sometimes transformed in the process. Rather than view urbanization as the handiwork of foreign planners and technicians, the essay argues that the actions leading to the selection and implementation of particular “foreign planned” projects are linked to, and influence, the complex relations between local government agencies and the public. [Planning, foreign consultants, politics, Doha, Qatar]

AN EXAMINATION OF the practice of employing foreign household workers reveals how global and local relations shape social life in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The paper addresses the factors influencing changing patterns of labor recruitment, and then focuses on the reproduction of local social relations through the everyday practices of household labor. Both global and local inequalities are imprinted onto everyday practice through the asymmetrical relations of household labor. The convergence of global and local influences in domestic relations is further shown to shape the spatial distribution of social relations throughout Doha. [Globalization, labor migration, household workers, Middle East, Qatar]

This article examines the relationship between house form and appearance and social diversity. The metamorphosis of two features of the Qatari house which operate as loci of communication between occupants and non‐occupants, the majlis (guest reception area) and the exterior ornamentation, is described within the context of increasing social diversity between the 1960s and the 1990s. The manner in which each of these features conveys information to the new range of audiences within the diverse population of Qatar is examined. The article supports the view that differences in the use of a house to signify status are related to the character of social networks and demonstrates that in a dual social system where networks coexist but rarely overlap methods and media of communication through the built environment can be similarly bifurcated.

This paper describes the parallel entry of Bahraini and non‑Bahraini women into the workforce and explores the intersections of gender, work and nationality in Bahrain, as well as local variations in the globalizing work force. The research provides both a sociocultural and historical contextualization to women’s entry into the workforce. The patterns of gender and nationality characterizing Bahrain’s workforce today are to be situated within an economic and social framework which has undergone many changes since the early 20th century. Now, within a context where Bahraini women are encouraged and motivated to seek employment, does the employment of foreign women help or hinder their entry into the work force? And in a cultural context where certain occupations have long been viewed as unsuitable for women, does foreign women employing impact cultural perceptions of these jobs? These questions are asked of occupations in which relatively large numbers of women work, namely education, hospitality, retail and household work. Ce document décrit l’entrée parallèle des femmes bahreïnies et non bahreïnies dans la main‑d’œuvre à Bahreïn, et explore les articulations entre le genre, le travail et la nationalité, ainsi que les variations locales dans le marché du travail globalisé. L’article fournit une mise en contexte socioculturelle et historique de l’entrée des femmes dans le monde du travail. Les types de genre et de nationalité qui caractérisent la main‑d’œuvre de Bahreïn aujourd’hui sont à replacer dans un cadre économique et social qui a subi beaucoup de changements depuis début du XXe siècle. Aujourd’hui, dans un contexte où les femmes bahreïnies sont encouragées à chercher un emploi, l’emploi des femmes étrangères aide‑t‑il ou entrave‑t‑il leur entrée sur le marché du travail de Bahreïn? Et, dans un contexte culturel où certaines professions ont longtemps été considérées comme inappropriées aux femmes, l’emploi des femmes étrangères influe‑t‑il sur les représentations culturelles de ces emplois? Ces questions se posent en ce qui concerne les domaines dans lesquels un nombre relativement élevé de femmes travaille, à savoir l’éducation, l’hospitalité, le petit commerce et les travaux ménagers.

Drawn from two years of ethnographic research amongst foreign residents in Bahrain this paper discusses marriages between Bahraini men and non-Arab women.1 The first half of the paper outlines the entry of non-Arab women into the migrant workforce in Bahrain and the obstacles to marriage between these women and Bahraini men. The second half of the paper discusses the cultural attitudes toward mixed marriages and compares Bahraini-European marriages to Bahraini-Filipina marriages in order to explore the intersections of race and class in shaping attitudes towards mixed marriages. Bahraini-Filipina marriages meet with greater criticism and resistance from the extended family of the groom and the participants are subject to greater stigmatization than are Bahraini-European marriages. This paper illustrates how the current economic and social hierarchies shaping migration to the Arab Gulf influence attitudes of race, class and sexual attractiveness.