Andrea Wright FINAL Dissertation

330 Pages·2015·29.72 MB·English

Migratory Pipelines:
Labor and Oil in the Arabian Sea

by

Andrea Grace Wright

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Anthropology and History)
in the University of Michigan
2015

Doctoral Committee:

Associate Professor Matthew Hull, Co-Chair
Associate Professor Farina Mir, Co-Chair
Emeritus Professor David William Cohen
Professor Juan Cole
© Andrea Grace Wright 2015
DEDICATION

For Evelyn
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am deeply indebted to many people for their support, friendship, and critical input while
I worked on this project. I was privileged to be supervised at the University of Michigan by a
supportive committee who were crucial to my intellectual development. I am thankful to my
committee for their guidance, time, and energy – they are exemplary scholars who provide much
inspiration and motivation. I thank David William Cohen for his mentorship, close readings, and
discussions regarding the power and politics of knowledge. I thank Juan Cole for his support and
suggestions, and his encouragement to think about the Middle East and South Asia together was
integral to this dissertation. I thank my co-chairs, Matthew Hull and Farina Mir, for their
guidance, readings of multiple drafts, and patient insights. Matthew Hull’s efforts and time in
helping me clarify my ideas was invaluable to this dissertation and my academic development
overall. Farina Mir’s detailed feedback and encouragement to think about larger historiographic
arguments greatly strengthened this dissertation and I will carry her insights to my future
projects. In addition to my committee, faculty at both the University of Chicago and the
University of Michigan helped me develop and frame this project through courses, guided
readings, and conversations. In particular, I’d like to thank Dipesh Chakrabarty, Fernando
Coronil, Geoff Eley, Paul Johnson, John Kelly, Conrad Kottak, Alaina Lemon, Claudio Lomnitz,
Barbara Metcalf, Eric Mueggler, Stephan Palmie, Andrew Shryock, and Julie Skurski. I thank
Bali Sahotra for planting an idea that, after almost a decade and some surprising twists,
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eventually bloomed into the research topic for this dissertation. I also thank Diana Denney and
Kathleen King who have provided so much support for me at the University of Michigan; they
have gone above and beyond their job description and enriched my education in countless ways.
Over the course of my research and writing, I was provided generous support from the
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award and, at the University of Michigan, the
Doctoral Program in Anthropology and History, the Center for South Asian Studies, the
Rackham Graduate School, and the Ross School of Business. I’d like to thank the libraries that
were so integral to my research. In particular, I thank the staff at the National Archives of India,
the Maharashtra State Archives, and the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi for all of their help
and support. I also thank the institutions that gave me a home base outside of the United States.
In India, Aligarh Muslim University was an excellent host, and Ali R. Fatihi provided valuable
guidance. In the UAE, the Dubai School of Government provided me with institutional
affiliation that included a lively community of scholars, and the staff helped me easily negotiate
bureaucratic spaces.
Solid foundations in multiple languages were central to this project. I thank Maxim
Romanov for his private instruction in Arabic, and I thank the Arabic teachers at the Center for
Maghrib Studies in Tunis, Tunisia, for their tutelage. I am thankful for my Urdu teachers in the
United States and Lucknow, India, including Fahmida Bano, Fauzia Farooqui, Wafadar Hussain,
Sheba Iftikhar, Ahtesham Khan, Zeba Parveen, and Ajay Shukla. These teachers not only taught
me Urdu, but also helped foster a love of the language. Syed Ali’s excellent instruction in Urdu
at the University of Michigan and his patience and encouragement helped refine my language
skills - I am heavily indebted to him not only for language instruction, but for academic support
in a myriad of ways.
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My many friends and interlocutors in both India and the UAE, including Ram, Mr.
Pandeya, Mr. Anthony, Rani, Alex, Mr. Kaur, Shabana, Asma, Yogesh, Mr. Ramchandra,
Padma, Mr. Hussain, Mr. Shah, and so many others. I wish I were able to thank you without a
pseudonym, and I hope you find this text insightful and informative. I thank the Indian
associations in the UAE who welcomed me to their events and whose members invited me to
their homes as though I was family. I would never have gotten my project started without the
help of some NGOs based in Mumbai, and I am indebted to the kindness the workers at these
NGOs for introducing me to migrants and recruiting agents. I also thank the recruiting agents
who gave me access to their businesses, the companies that allowed me to interrupt their daily
activities, and government workers who shared their daily work. I appreciate all for your
openness, your help throughout the process, and most of all your friendship; and I hope my deep
respect for you comes through in this work.
My friends, colleagues, and comrades in the USA, India, and the UAE who have read
drafts, commented, and listened to me brainstorm have contributed in countless ways to this
work. In particular, I’d like to thank Danna Agmon, Daniel Birchok, Robert Chidester, Heloise
Finch, Emanuela Grama, Federico Helfgott Seier, Azfar Moin, Janam Mukherjee, Latika
Neelakantan, Rajanpreet Nigam, Neha Paliwal, Esteban Rozo, Behzad Sarmadi, and Stephen
Sparks. Members of the anthropology and history workshop at the University of Michigan read
an early version of the “Of Mangoes and Men” chapter and their comments and close reading
improved not only the chapter, but the dissertation as a whole. A special thanks to Purvi Mehta
and Rebecca Grapevine for their generousness with their friendship throughout graduate school
and their insightful and thought-provoking feedback on this dissertation. I thank Hoda Bandeh-
Ahmadi, David Boyk, and Jordan Kraemer for their close readings, camaraderie, technological
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assistance, and engagement with the ideas of this dissertation. I thank Katherine Hendy and
Elizabeth Kelley for beautifully encompassing the roles of critical readers and close friends as
we wrote together. Finally, I owe a special debt to Alexandre Beliaev for his constant
engagement and critique of my work – this dissertation’s strengths are greatly indebted to him.
My friends and family have been a source of constant strength, and I am lucky to have
such an amazing extended network. My special thanks to John McIntire, Carol McIntire, Karen
McIntire, Tom Dodson, Gail Golem, Jim Golem, Melinda Benton, Elizabeth Golem, Julia
Golem, Genevieve Padgett, Grace Holden, Dante Rance, Peter Glamb, Shannon Walker, Lilly
Gallay, Charley Gallay, and David Oliver. My mother, Alice Wright, has been a great role model
and I am thankful. My sister, Paula Wright Oliver, offered invaluable advice on the mechanics of
writing, helped me find my writing style, and, most importantly, is a dear friend. My father, Jim
Wright, unfortunately did not live to see the entire dissertation, but he enthusiastically read each
chapter while he was alive, and he always had a unique perspective on my research and writing. I
hope the finished product meets his high expectations. While writing this dissertation, I have
benefited from William Benton’s companionship; I thank you, William, this dissertation would
be much poorer if it were not for our lively debates and your critical insights. Finally, I thank
Evelyn for bringing so much light to my life.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
LIST OF MAPS xii
LIST OF IMAGES xiii
LIST OF TABLES xiv
LIST OF GRAPHS xv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvi

INTRODUCTION 1

Networked Pipelines 4

Oil Companies and British Imperialism in the Gulf 10

Contemporary Migration to the Gulf: Indians on the Arabian Sea 16

CHAPTER I
A Politics of Locality: Indian Worker Movements in the Persian Gulf 27

Labor History and the Specificities of Oil Production 30

Communist Strikes at the Abadan Oil Refinery 33

Skilled Workers in Bahrain and Claims for Universal Human Rights 40

Racism and Hunger Strikes at the Aden Refinery 47

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Conclusion: Citizenship, Worker Rights, and Oil Companies 58

CHAPTER II
Citizens Abroad: The Indian Government and the Regulation of Emigration 61

Staffing the Construction of the Refinery in Aden 66

Colonial Legacies: The Emigration Act of 1922 70

Historical Understandings of Emigration 76

Regulating Emigration to the Gulf 79

Registering Worker Complaints 84

Hindus, Discrimination, and Oil Company Policies 88

Negotiating Contracts 94

Conclusion: Emigration and the Postcolonial Nation 101

CHAPTER III
“We are the Government Here:”
Strikes and Shifting Labor Practices in the Arabic-speaking Gulf 103

1963 Abu Dhabi Strikes 108

National Identity and Pan-Arab Solidarity 112

Sheikhly Authority and Colonial Policing 114

The Politics of Khalījī Workers 119

Unrest throughout the Gulf 125

Qatar Strikes, 1968 126

The Uncertain Role of Foreigners in the Oilfields 137

Qatari Labor Laws 139

Shifting Labor Patterns, 1969 Qatar 143

Labor Laws in Abu Dhabi and Colonial Narratives 144
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Conclusion: Evacuating Politics from the Oilfields 149

CHAPTER IV
Formalizing Labor Hierarchies in the Gulf:
Colonial Administrators, Merchants, and Oil Companies 151

The Kafala System’s Impact on Worker Experiences 154

Trade in the Arabian Sea 157

A Snapshot of Indian Traders in the Gulf 160

Implementing the Law of Commercial Companies 164

The Problem with the Resource Curse 169

Oil, Society, and Politics 171

The Gulf and Oil Development 173

Drawing Borders and Oil Concessions 175

Conclusion: Merchants, Oil Companies, and Shifting Politics 180

CHAPTER V
Of Mangoes and Men: Circulation in the Arabian Sea 185

Recruiting Agents and Indian Migration 188

Circulating Mangoes and Men 191

The Process of Migration 196

The Government and Labor Migration 200

A Bureaucratic History of Emigration 202

A Meeting between the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Recruiting Agents 208

India’s Brand Abroad 211

Workers’ Networks and the Process of Migration 217

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