Western Privilege. Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai by Saba A. Le Renard

Originally published in French in 2020, Western Privilege. Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai, by Saba le Renard, was translated by Jane Kuntz and published in September 2021 at Stanford University Press. The book received the AGAPS (Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies) 2023 award.

 Western Privilege: Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai. Amélie Le Renard (trans. by Jane Kuntz). Stanford University Press. 2021.

In a review posted on the LSE Review of Books blog, Dr. Liina Mustonen examines how the postcolonial feminist approach enables Saba A. Le Renard to discuss the construction of Westernness and whiteness in a non-Western context.

The introduction is reproduced below.

[Saba A.] Le Renard’s Western Privilege: Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai not only makes an important contribution to the field of Middle Eastern studies by taking a postcolonial approach to analysing the organisation of social life in one of the Emirates. The book’s focus on mobile Western passport holders in Dubai also makes it essential reading for scholars of migration as well as ethnic and race studies.

Through narratives of 98 residents of Dubai, collected in interviews, Le Renard studies the advantages and identifications that construct the status of a Westerner along the intersecting lines of class, gender and race (3) in a city that she considers a ‘strategic site of inquiry into reconfigurations of social hierarchy at a global scale’ (1).

Contrary to the low-skilled migrant workers from Asian countries, who built the ‘giant spa’ (36) where Western passport holders can enjoy hedonistic lifestyles, Le Renard’s interview partners occupied high-skilled jobs. They worked in various sectors such as human resources, sales, marketing, communications, finance, logistics and urban planning (50). 58 had a French passport, while 19 had another Western nationality and 21 interviewees had a non-Western passport. The focus on French passport holders is justified given their significant role in Dubai as the second largest group of Westerners after the British at the time of the research. This set of interviews allows the author to explore the overlaps of Westernness and whiteness in Dubai’s postcolonial context.

Read the rest of Dr. Liina Mustonen’s review on the LSE Review of Books blog.

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In an interview for the independent ezine Jadaliyya, Saba A. le Renard explains how this research began with their doctoral work 15 years ago. Initially studying transforming femininities of young Saudi women, Saba A. Le Renard then wanted to “question [the status of Westerners in the Middle East], to make ‘Westerner’ the object rather than the implicit subject of knowledge’.

 

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