Negotiating Iranianness: Identity Politics, Cosmopolitan Subjectivities, and Cultural Distinction in Dubai

Abstract This article examines social representations and hierarchies among Iranian migrants in Dubai through an analysis of the diversity of the Iranian diaspora and the ways in which different segments of this diaspora engage with the policies and politics of belonging in the national contexts of both Iran and the United Arab Emirates. I focus on the legacy of stereotypical representations inherited from processes of nation-building, and on how individuals navigate, negotiate, and at times challenge these representations through everyday interactions and relations of alterity. Dubai constitutes a particularly revealing case in this respect, because the Iranian presence there has been shaped simultaneously by regional mobilities rooted in the history of the Persian Gulf and by broader transnational movements, while also reflecting the effects of globalization over recent decades. The analysis further explores how social hierarchies originating in Iranian society are reproduced, reworked, or contested in the migratory context through the study of social interactions between different groups and cultural initiatives undertaken by migrants. The article sheds light on the formation of cosmopolitan subjectivities and practices of cultural distinction within a heterogeneous diasporic space. 1