Western Privilege: Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai

Amélie Le Renard's book explores how race, gender, and class backgrounds shape experiences of privilege and investigates the processes that lead to the formation of Westerners as a social group. It reveals the diverse experiences and trajectories of white and non-white, male and female Westerners to understand the shifting and contingent nature of Westernness and its deep connection to whiteness and heteronormativity.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 21 September 2021
Publisher: Stanford University Press

Nearly 90 percent of Dubai's residents are foreigners, with no Emirati nationality. In many global cities, those with Western passports enjoy specific advantages such as prestigious careers, high salaries, and comfortable homes and lifestyles. In her book, Amélie Le Renard explores how race, gender, and class backgrounds shape experiences of privilege and investigates the processes that lead to the formation of Westerners as a social group.

Westernness extends beyond a passport; it is an identity that demands emotional and bodily labor. As Westerners pursue Dubai's promise of socioeconomic elevation, they engage in various activities such as work, hookups, parenting, and hiring domestic help. Through an ethnography informed by postcolonial and feminist theory, Le Renard uncovers the diverse experiences and trajectories of white and non-white, male and female Westerners to understand the shifting and contingent nature of Westernness and its deep connection to whiteness and heteronormativity.

Western Privilege provides a unique perspective on the lived reality of structural racism in cities of the global South.

Weight: 394g
Dimension: 151 x 228 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503629233