“Would You Offer Them Tea?”
Abstract
Abstract This article examines the paradox of hospitality in Kuwait, where a cultural ideal of generosity coexists with the social invisibility of migrant workers. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, cultural analysis, and secondary sources, it explores how hospitality operates not as an expression of openness but as a mechanism of exclusion. By defining who qualifies as a “guest,” hospitality reinforces social hierarchies rooted in tribal belonging. Migrants, positioned outside these networks, are denied everyday forms of recognition. The study contributes to Gulf migration scholarship by advancing hospitality as a lens for understanding how structural and symbolic boundaries of belonging are maintained.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Migration
Refugees
and Integration
Socioeconomic Development in MENA
Middle East Politics and Society
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Contemporary Arab Affairs
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 117–136
- Publication date
- 9 February 2026
- Language
- EN