Ethnocentric and class barriers: Discrimination against domestic workers in the Middle East

Abstract

ABSTRACTEthnic and racial differences comprise barriers faced by some domestic workers who endure hardships in foreign countries as they support their families overseas. What complicates the situation for such workers is when they face racist employers, who impose cruel conditions on them. In such situations, many employees are forced to accept such harsh circumstances, and hold on to jobs that feed the mouths of hungry relatives. The Middle East is a great attraction for foreigners who dream of making ends meet and support their families. Many of them work as domestic workers who sometimes find themselves being victimized by a racially discriminatory system. Saud Sanousi’s The Bamboo Stalk (2012) captures social and ethnic differences embedded in Kuwait, as he unveils stories of a Filipina domestic servant and her son José, born of a Kuwaiti father. José questions the norms of Kuwaiti society, but fails in making an impact because of the overwhelming prejudice, which views the two cultures in an unequal master–slave relationship. This paper uses Sanousi’s novel to examine this scenario represented by the fictional Kuwaiti family of the Taroufs, illustrating how prejudice is used against domestic workers in the real world, because of racial and class differences.