Digital Oral Histories of Labor Migrants in Qatar: Methodological Insights

• In Event: Migrant Workers and Sending State Relations

Abstract

This paper addresses the underutilization of digital oral history in Middle East political science focusing on labor migration. Following Qatar's 2010 World Cup bid, migrant labor issues gained global attention. The study, conducted in Qatar, comprises 40 anonymized, recorded oral history interviews in multiple languages, which will form a public digital exhibit. The paper elaborates on the importance of preserving and disseminating these narratives, emphasizing how digital archives contribute to a comprehensive, and longer duree understanding of this community. This methods-based paper seeks to underscore how curating fully anonymized oral interviews with migrants and making them broadly accessible has significant methodological implications for the study of labor migration in the region, offering new opportunities for both practitioners and scholars. By employing oral history as a research methodology, it is possible to bridge the gap between scholarly portrayals of migrants, and the more nuanced reality of migrant laborers. The reflections here are based on the very small and specific research context of Doha, Qatar, but the context of a high level of inward migration, vulnerability of interview subjects, confidentiality, ethics within the interview process, digital access and digital literacy are applicable more broadly.

Author

• Zahra R Babar, Georgetown University