Iranian Migrations to Dubai: Constraints and Autonomy of a Segmented Diaspora

In this paper I examine the way modalities of mobility and settlement contribute to the socioeconomic stratification of the Iranian community in Dubai, while simultaneously reflecting its segmented nature, complex internal dynamics, and relationship to the environment in which it is formed. I will anal e Iranian migrants representations and their cultural initiatives to help elucidate the socio-economic hierarchies that result from differentiated access to distinct social spaces as well as the agency that migrants have over these hierarchies. In doing so, I examine how social categories constructed in the contexts of departure and arrival contribute to shaping migratory trajectories. On the other hand, I explore how these categories are embedded in a set of social processes, while also being transformed through different aspects of migrant lives.