{"title":"Coping with temporariness: Space appropriation of South Asian migrants in Muscat, Oman","authors":"Aysha Farooq, Carmella Pfaffenbach","doi":"10.1002/psp.2852","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This article deals with the practices of South Asian migrant workers appropriating space in Muscat, Oman. Due to temporary employment contracts, low income, and long working hours, in addition to living in a fragmented car-dependent city, their access to the city is spatially and temporally limited. This raises the question of their opportunities and limitations for space appropriation in Muscat. In this paper, we first describe the urban and political context that leads to their limitations and temporalities. We then establish a theoretical framework to define the roles of space, migration, and time. Adopting a qualitative approach combining interviews and observation, we then focus on one location as a case study and analyse how its visitors, low-income and middle-income migrant workers, appropriate space according to their daily needs. Highlighting the tension between rigid constraints and constant change, we conclude by presenting the social and spatial products of the process of space appropriation and respond to the discourse on the production of space through the lens of temporary migration.</p>","PeriodicalId":48067,"journal":{"name":"Population Space and Place","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/psp.2852","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Population Space and Place","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/psp.2852","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"DEMOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article deals with the practices of South Asian migrant workers appropriating space in Muscat, Oman. Due to temporary employment contracts, low income, and long working hours, in addition to living in a fragmented car-dependent city, their access to the city is spatially and temporally limited. This raises the question of their opportunities and limitations for space appropriation in Muscat. In this paper, we first describe the urban and political context that leads to their limitations and temporalities. We then establish a theoretical framework to define the roles of space, migration, and time. Adopting a qualitative approach combining interviews and observation, we then focus on one location as a case study and analyse how its visitors, low-income and middle-income migrant workers, appropriate space according to their daily needs. Highlighting the tension between rigid constraints and constant change, we conclude by presenting the social and spatial products of the process of space appropriation and respond to the discourse on the production of space through the lens of temporary migration.
期刊介绍:
Population, Space and Place aims to be the leading English-language research journal in the field of geographical population studies. It intends to: - Inform population researchers of the best theoretical and empirical research on topics related to population, space and place - Promote and further enhance the international standing of population research through the exchange of views on what constitutes best research practice - Facilitate debate on issues of policy relevance and encourage the widest possible discussion and dissemination of the applications of research on populations - Review and evaluate the significance of recent research findings and provide an international platform where researchers can discuss the future course of population research