Reflection Pieces
These reflection pieces are authored by scholars, practitioners, and others who have engaged with the Migrant Stories from Qatar oral histories. These reflections provide critical analyses, personal insights, and professional perspectives on the experiences of migrant workers in Qatar. By engaging with the narratives, the authors contribute to an ongoing scholarly and practical discourse on labor migration, highlighting the intersections between lived experiences and broader social, economic, and policy issues. These pieces take various forms and create space for personal engagement with the human dimensions of migration.
Natalia Nagree | Migrant Matters Contributor
In this reflection, Natalia critiques the privileged framing of migrant-rights debates and highlights stories that restore migrants’ agency, revealing courage, choice, and dignity beyond paternalistic narratives.
Misba Bhatti | Centre for International and Regional Studies
In this reflection, the author highlights the often-overlooked mental health impacts of migration, emphasizing how emotional alienation and unresolved psychological tension persist long after physical separation.
Naswifu Kasozi | Senior Customer Service Agent in Qatar
In this reflection, Naswifu Kasozi examines the hidden emotional toll of migration, focusing on how sacrifice and isolation persist long after their physical journey ends.
Iqra Nadeem | Georgetown University in Qatar
In this reflection, the Iqra considers how Kwame’s story reveals the quiet weight of migrant life, where endurance, routine, and small acts of care become ways of surviving distance, uncertainty, and invisibility.
Syed Taha Kaleem | Brandeis University
In this reflection, the Taha engages with Nizan’s oral history, exploring the impact of migration on familial structures and masculinity highlighting the broader socio-cultural implications of migration.
Reflection: Decentering Privilege in Migrant Discourse
Natalia Nagree is a researcher and writer based in Doha whose work bridges political, economic, and social analysis to challenge neo-colonial narratives and reframe global policy discourse. She has contributed to projects at the MIRR Alliance, Global Impact, and The A-Mark Foundation, focusing on migration, social protection, and the geopolitics of aid. Her writing on Medium and Migrant Matters explores intersections between climate, migration, and security, offering data-driven insights that cut through misinformation.
When formulating policy initiatives focused on improving migrant labour rights, the trigger is often a grave rights violation case or a rights campaign focusing myopically on an isolated point. When these campaigns are funded and driven by external agendas, the narrative often deliberately ignores the larger picture. But what’s perhaps more worrying is that these campaigns are often rooted in “white savior” rationales that repackage racist colonial constructs. What this translates into is a dogmatic approach that trades on privilege. Privilege controls the narrative, privilege shuts down or minimizes discussions and histories that are inconvenient, privilege demands from the Global South what is not otherwise demanded.
The best example of privilege-at-play is how when discussing “Migrant Rights,” the argument focuses on the declaration of universal human rights and uses this to not only continuously demand improvements but also point out gaps between law and practice. Often there is no space for discussion, simplifying the narrative to good versus evil (exploiter). On the other hand, drowning asylum seekers and tax-funded offshore detention camps are explained away as “cultural preservation,” “burdensome on taxpayers,” and “undocumented or irregular.” The latter ignores how many asylum seekers fill roles of migrant labour in labour-strapped economies and who are also deserving of the same rights and protections as migrants—because, crucially, beyond these convenient labels of “migrant” and “asylum seeker” are human beings struggling to survive; humans fleeing economic devastation, war, or climate devastation. These are humans who have lost the race lottery, passport lottery, and birth lottery.
Beyond this double standard, these privileged colonial attitudes that permeate policy discussions have led to a paternalistic discourse that treats low-income economic migrants as people who need saving—thus, stripping them of agency.
The voices in these podcasts change that.
When I first started listening to the podcasts, I focused on finding common problems and hurdles to better prescribe migrant-rights policies. But a few podcasts in, I realized that these were not tales of exploitation and abuse—the kind of migrant stories we have been conditioned to expect. Not to downplay the hardships experienced—wage theft, contract swaps, and abuse are indeed genuine problems. Problems that require action on all our parts. But these stories go beyond simple stereotypes. Not only are these individual and deeply personal stories, but they are also stories of courage, stories of dreams and aspirations, and stories of worries and emotional challenges. Unique, yet very relatable.
Priyanka, a Nepali beautician, recounts her unique journey that breaks away from the “Savarna feminism”—not only because she forges her path ahead to secure her children’s future but also because her goals in retirement are focused on helping other women rather than amassing wealth. Yet her worry that her children will get into drugs and not study, or her concerns over her husband fidelity are relatable.
Dante, the Ugandan migrant, who continues to work as a delivery driver despite his fear, is a story of courage. His analyses of his compensation metrics, and how to best it, are signs of his intelligence and are juxtaposed against everyday activities he does to relax and destress, like watching TV and working out.
Juliette, the Azeri hostess, whose positivity is contagious as she forces us to look beyond the gloom and focus on what she has gained. She is determined to use her experience in Qatar as an opportunity and a jumping off point.
Kwame, the Ghanian security guard, is inspiring with his no-nonsense attitude towards his childhood and family that makes him shrug his shoulders and make the most of the cards he has been dealt. His relationship advice from his learnt lessons felt like a chat with a parent.
Ghazanfar, the Pakistani driver, gets knocked down over and over, only to pick himself up and continue forward. The way he considers his options vis-a-vis opportunity, hardships, and access to rights tells us that he is not waiting to be saved. Rather, he is able to evaluate and decide what is best for him.
These stories humanize migrants beyond the abuse. They force the listener to contend with the individual story sharer as an equal, to understand the unique circumstances that led to the decision to embark on a “migrant” journey, and to appreciate the joys and sorrows along with their respective hopes and dreams. But we also learn that each story sharer is not a “damsel in distress” waiting to be saved. Like any of us, they are learning, thinking, gathering information, evaluating options, and actively making decisions they believe are best for themselves. Interestingly, even when speaking about abuse or contract violations, solutions include better information sharing and contract/visa education in addition to regulation. Overall, a clear desire for agency. For me, this is pivotal. These stories do not serve as a minefield of data to be used for the next policy update. These stories demand us to question and evaluate the lens we use to formulate migrant policy.
Personally, I am inspired and deeply humbled.
Listen to Kwame’s podcast here, Listen to Julietta’s podcast here, Listen to Ghazafar’s podcast here, Listen to Dante’s podcast here, Listen to Priyanka’s podcast here
Reflection on Dhan Bahadur and Nizan: Two Sides of the Same Story
Misba Bhatti is a Research Analyst at CIRS, where she supports the Executive Director in identifying critical research gaps and producing background research for the Center’s projects. She has published on topics related to migration, employment, and socio-political dynamics in the Gulf region.
As a fourth-generation migrant and researcher engaged in this project, I experienced personal and professional resonance with each narrative presented in this study. While every story I encountered had relevance to both my lived experience and academic interests, the accounts of Dhan Bahadur and Nizan evoked a particularly nuanced understanding of the complex ripple effects induced by migration. These testimonies shed light on facets of migration that remain underexplored, especially concerning the relational dynamics and emotional toll experienced by family members.
The stories of Dhan Bahadur and Nizan converge on the figure of the father who departs his homeland to seek employment abroad, driven by aspirations to secure financial stability for his family left behind. This pattern is symbolic of countless migrant families globally. However, what distinguishes these narratives is their in-depth examination of the sacrifices implicit in such decisions and the enduring consequences these absences impose on familial relationships. The fathers’ physical departures cause not only physical separation but also emotional distance, thereby disrupting family structures and straining familial bonds. A powerful sense of loss is felt in these stories, encompassing not only the lack of physical proximity but also the distance in communication, trust, and shared experience. Both narrators foreground feelings of victimhood, underscoring how migration, despite its promise as a pathway to opportunity, can simultaneously be the reason for emotional alienation within family units.
Dhan Bahadur’s narrative sheds light on the friction in a father-son relationship, highlighting how migration causes and sustains these ruptures. His account is filled with a mixture of regret and unresolved tension, where feelings of love intricately intertwine with blame. In parallel, Nizan’s story reveals a fractured father-son dynamic from the opposite vantage point: the son’s perception of the absent father is shaped by resentment and unmet expectations. Both men attribute responsibility for their fractured connection to the other, underscoring the deep tension created by migration in familial ties. This dual perspective is a critical contribution as it problematizes simplistic portrayals of migrant families as either resilient or victimized, instead illuminating the emotional complexity woven through absence, sacrifice, and relational needs.
These narratives invite a reexamination of prevailing themes within migration studies, which predominantly emphasize migrants’ experiences in host countries, focusing on issues such as legal status, employment precariousness, cultural adaptation, discrimination, and psychological stressors. While these concerns are undeniably significant, the stories of Dhan Bahadur and Nizan broaden the analytical horizon by highlighting the oft-overlooked consequences endured both by the migrants and those remaining in the country of origin. The loneliness, frustration, and shifting familial roles experienced by those left behind reveal migration’s extensive emotional and geographical ripple effects. Although remittances contribute critical economic support, they cannot fully compensate for the deterioration of familial bonds and understanding.
Moreover, these testimonies illuminate a vital yet underexplored dimension of migration: its impact on the mental health of both migrants and their families. The emotional strain imposed by prolonged physical separation manifests in depression, anxiety, and a pervasive sense of loss, vividly portrayed in each account. Particularly poignant is Dhan Bahadur’s description of his attempt to document his experiences in writing, only to later destroy the manuscript. This act symbolizes the internal conflict and despair wrought by migration, reflecting the profound difficulty migrants face in articulating their emotional realities. Mental health repercussions frequently remain overshadowed by economic or legal considerations in migration discourse, yet they are indispensable to a comprehensive understanding of migration’s multifaceted impacts. The pressures of enduring uncertainty, managing a sense of responsibility, and coping with separation generate a personal and social experience marked by considerable psychological complexity.
Nonetheless, the resilience and coping strategies revealed within these stories offer significant insights. Despite their suffering, both narrators demonstrate critical self-awareness and a conscious desire to reconcile with their disrupted familial histories. Their reflections provide a lens through which to explore how migrants and their families navigate separation’s emotional turmoil through memory, storytelling, and, sometimes, silence. These narratives prompt important questions about how migrants and their relatives conceptualize and sustain family bonds despite physical distance.
Overall, the experiences of Dhan Bahadur and Nizar underscored for me the profound emotional and relational consequences experienced by families divided by migration. Their stories provide an alternative discourse by drawing attention to the often-understudied emotional suffering endured by both migrants and their families. This study reveals the necessity of integrating relational and psychological dimensions into migration research to fully capture the human experiences of this global phenomenon.
Listen to Dhan Bahadur’s podcast here , Listen to Nizan’s podcast here
Reflection on Kwame and Edwin’s Oral History
Naswifu Kasozi is a Senior Customer Service Agent in Airport Terminal Operations at Hamad International Airport and a dedicated community member in Qatar. After listening to migrant workers’ stories, he reflects on their resilience and sacrifices, hoping to share their powerful journeys and inspire greater understanding.
Listening to the podcast episodes about Kwame from Ghana and Edwin from Uganda was both moving and eye opening. Their stories reminded me that behind every migrant worker in Qatar is a personal journey filled with sacrifice, endurance, and unshakable hope.
Kwame has spent eight years building a life here, working his way up to security supervisor. Yet his journey has been marked by long hours, financial strain, and the mental toll of being far from home. The gym became his sanctuary, a way to keep going when the weight of it all felt too much.
Edwin arrived with a diploma in civil engineering and high expectations, only to face broken promises, low pay, and exhausting conditions. Despite the setbacks, his focus remains on building a better life for his family.
These conversations reminded me that migrant labor is not just about work it’s about people. It’s about the courage to leave home, the resilience to keep going, and the quiet hope that one day, the sacrifices will be worth it.
Listen to Kwame’s podcast here , Listen to Edwins’s podcast here
Reflection on Kwame’s Podcast
Iqra Nadeem is a third year student at Georgetown University in Qatar.
I am grateful and actually blessed that I could be in the Stories in the Data Class. I enrolled in this class thinking I knew what “migrant labor” meant. After listening to the oral histories like Kwame’s, I realized how easily the phrase turns people into a category and stories into data points. Listening to his story helped me see the quiet, everyday ways a life is carried, stretched, and held together far from home.
Kwame has been in Qatar for eight years. His history does not move in a straight line of success. It bends around long shifts, the pressure to send money home, the uncertainty of contracts, and the ache of distance. When he talked about the gym, he wasn’t just describing a hobby; he was naming a sanctuary. The gym is where he steadies himself, where the noise of fatigue and homesickness lowers just enough to keep going the next day.
What struck me most were the pauses between his sentences. In oral histories, silences have weight. They hold the unspoken costs—missed birthdays, family decisions made over unstable phone calls, the mental calculus of what to endure now so something better might be possible later. Those pauses taught me as much as his words did.
Before this class, I tended to think about migrant workers through headlines and statistics: numbers of workers, years of service, average wages. Those metrics are important, but they can flatten lives. Kwame’s story reopened my sense of scale. A “shift” is not just a unit of time; it’s a body carried through heat and repetition. A “promotion” is not just a title; it’s an accumulation of trust, small victories, and self-discipline in a place where stability can feel conditional. “Remittances” aren’t just flows of money; they are hopes wired across borders.
I also came across other oral histories. Although I worked most closely with Kwame, the threads of these stories weave together: ambition meets constraint, dignity meets neglect, perseverance meets uncertainty. Together, they challenge the habit of seeing migrant workers as temporary or peripheral. They are central to the life of this place.
This project changed how I think about responsibility. It’s not enough to “collect” stories and move on. If listening is real, it asks us to respond—by making everyday spaces fairer, by noticing mental health as much as physical strain, by refusing jokes or comments that reduce people to their jobs, by asking what policies and practices would make a tangible difference on the ground. Community is not an abstract value; it shows up in break rooms, in respectful schedules, in the way supervisors speak, and in whether people feel safe to say
they are not okay.
From Kwame’s story, I realized that there was nothing dramatic about the way he said it. But I left feeling that dignity is, in fact, dramatic—because it must be protected every day. My role, as a listener and a student in Qatar, is to keep that commitment: to see fully, to speak carefully, and to act where I can so that stories like Kwame’s are not just heard but honored.
Reflection on Nizan’s Oral History
Syed Taha Kaleem is a Ph.D. candidate in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at Brandeis University, specializing in the Anthropology of Gender and Contemporary Politics in the Middle East. In addition to his academic research, he is an educator and podcast host, with experience mentoring in global educational initiatives.
Migration to the Gulf is often discussed and debated through the economy and labor rights prism. Scholars and activists focus on migration’s push and pull factors, flattening the realities of migrant life in the Gulf countries. These interviews offer nuanced insights into the lives of migrant workers living and laboring in the Gulf, more specifically Qatar.
While listening to Nizan, you can sense, see, and hear the intimate affect migration to the Gulf had on his life. Growing up in one of India’s poorest states—Bihar—migration to the Gulf has dramatically altered the socialities of people like Nizan. South Asian society is deeply patriarchal, where the man is the primary decision-maker of the family. However, what happens when the man—the supposed patriarch, protector, and breadwinner—leaves the household? What happens to the familial structures? How does migration affect the landscapes of masculinity and fatherhood? These are some of the questions that are brought forth by Nizan’s life experiences. Nizan shares the challenges he and his family had to face while their father worked as a driver in Saudi Arabia and was absent for most of their lives. What stood out most in the interview was Nizan’s account of what happened when his father returned home permanently. The father wanted to take the power back over his household and was surprised to see how the wife had amassed all the control, ignoring the role he played in shaping this power matrix.