Culture and Society of the Arab World

“Keeping Connected: A Comparative Analysis of Transmigration and Habitus” (2012)

Abstract: Labor migration has been the subject of vast academic literature in the past

twenty years as researchers have been tempted to measure its extent, to define its dominant 

characteristics, and particularly to evaluate its contribution to economic and social development.

Migration (including internal, external, immigration, etc.) occurs over any distance and in 

various group sizes. Individuals (and groups) may choose to migrate for a number of reasons. 

Therefore, anthropologists must examine several important aspects of immigration and 

resettlement, such as the push/pull factors. Push factors are reasons for emigrating because 

of a difficulty: food shortage, war, environmental disaster, etc. Pull factors are reasons for 

immigrating, because of something desirable: economic factors, increased political or religious 

freedom, etc. Several types of push and pull factors may influence migrants in their movements 

- often at the same time. The outcome of migration frequently results in the social phenomena 

and relation which transcends nation states, called transmigration. The term “transmigrants” has 

been coined to refer to immigrants who maintain close relations with their home countries. In 

this paper, I will be using two stories of transmigrants - one male and one female - both of whom 

have the same end goal, which is to make enough money abroad for their families to renovate 

their apartments back home in order to raise their (and their families’) social status. Magdy (the 

subject of Farha Ghannam’s Keeping Him Connected: Labor Migration and the Production of 

Locality in Cairo) is an Egyptian national working for a publishing company in Kuwait. Gloria 

(whose story is an excerpt from Pardis Mahdavi’s Gridlock: Labor, Migration, and Human 

Trafficking in Dubai) is a Filipina who was recruited as a domestic worker in Dubai, and then 

switches to the informal sex work sector to make more money. By so doing, Gloria configures 

a livelihood strategy, piecing together opportunities in her receiving country to reap the greatest 

rewards, as is typical of transmigrants. Although Magdy and Gloria have the same objective, 

the ways they go about achieving their goals are varied, illustrating the complexity of migration. 

After briefly outlining my definitions and contextual background, I will ground the comparison 

in Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, to better explain how/why Magdy and Gloria go to such 

lengths to fulfill their families’ and societies’ expectations. Once I have thoroughly explained 

my framework, I will describe the stories, motives and outcomes of/for Magdy and Gloria, and 

finally compare them before drawing my conclusions.