Burj Refracted

Reimagining Labor and Consumption in Dubai

Accommodation

Derived from “accommodate,” from the Latin accommodare meaning "suited, adapted, fitted; hence suitable, fitting, fit”; “The action of accommodation, or process of being accommodated; fitting, adapting, adjusting, suiting” (OED)

Part I: Myth (i.e. “consumption”)

© Jumeirah Int. LLC

Courtesy of -peperoni - via Flickr

© Nakheel, eikongraphia.com

Part II: Labor

At its peak (prior to 2008), foreigners made up over 90 % of Dubai’s population.

These same foreigners made up over 95% of the city’s laboring population.

courtesy of Paul Keller via Flickr

As many as 880 men fell to their deaths on construction sites in Dubai in 2004, according to industry source, Construction Week

© Tyler Hicks, New York Times

Official sources reported 34 site deaths that year.

“Dubai isn’t kind to these men. It gives them no recognition…Instead, Dubai hides them from View. Most eat and sleep in hard scrabble labor camps in the desert, with a distant view of the skyline that they’ve sacrificed so much to build.”

– Jim Krane, City of Gold

© Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Guardian

© Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Guardian

Part III: Inspiration

The Dark Lens: Dubai InvasionCédric Delsaux (2009-2011)

Part IV: Re-imaginings

Social/Political/Spatial Exclusion

Racialized, Neo-Colonial Labor Practices; Privatized Immigration; Transnational Corporate Culture; …

Subtle Social/Spatial (in)Visibility

This is NOT a phenomenon specific only to Dubai…

An appeal to be mindful…

Sincere Thanks,

Anne Cong-HuyenUCSB, English

References

“Behind the Glamorous Façade of the Burj Khalifa.” Migrant rights: Giving hope, sharing life. Mideast Youth, 2012. <http://www.migrant-rights.org/2010/01/04/behind-the-glamorous-facade-of-the-burj-khalifa/>

CiA World Factbook. UAE. 10 Nov. 2011. <www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ae.html>

Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates . Human Rights Watch, 2006.

Krane, Jim. City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2009.

Image Credits

All images are used under a Creative Commons License and were found via Flickr.

Many thanks to morner, St1ke, Paul Keller, ramen lover, mikething, and octal for sharing their photography.