The New Qataris: Conversion, Identity Choice and Assimilation

Abstract

Abstract A quiet social revolution with far-reaching implications is underway in Qatar: many Qatari men marry women who are not Qatari by birth. I have focused on what I have termed “the New Qataris:” western women who are neither Muslim nor Qatari by birth. Who are these women and how do they go about the business of becoming and being Qatari Muslims? How do their conversion and their new nationality affect and influence their identity formation? The research involved an extended period of participant observation, as well as focused discussions. Much useful information was gleaned from ‘living the life’ with women - at coffee mornings and at religious lectures followed by food, etc. Many of the New Qatari women I observed choose to be ultra-Qatari in their lifestyles as part of their assimilation strategy, forging a new Muslim-Qatari identity in the process. They adopt and adapt the honor-modesty-piety code of the country, sometimes conflating it with the requirements of the Muslim way of life, but often...