Abstract
Decades of migration to the Gulf nations have led to the existence of second-generation migrants who were born and raised in migrant lands. The chapter uses the novel Temporary People (2017) by Deepak Unnikrishnan as a primary text to explore the role language plays in second-generation migrant identity formations and the assimilation process. The national language, Arabic, is situated in the specific socio-political context, a site where ideologies and power relations are reproduced. By identifying a gap in the language education policy, it reveals how migrant's inability to communicate in the Arabic language has complex implications on their identities and notions of belongingness. The chapter explores language's power to naturalize norms and hierarchical structures within society that can hinder the assimilation process and highlights the migrant-citizen divide. It shows how notions of temporariness and Othering in migrants are inherent within the language politics of the land. The chapter reaffirms language-identity relations and points to revaluating migrant language policies.
TopIntroduction
“We were afraid to love the city because everything seems precious: not because it was fantastic, but because we knew we were not there for long. We were hyper-aware of time, all the time. In the Gulf, temporariness is so normalized that people don’t think about it until they have to go” (Unnikrishnan, 2017).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Immersion: It is a method in language teaching practice where a second language is taught by immersing the subject in the language and culture.
Second-Generation Migrants (SGMs): The children of first-generation migrants who grow up in a migrant country, embedded within the host society and culture.
Acculturation: The ability to assimilate and integrate into a foreign culture, here, specifically referring to the host culture.
Verbal Repertoire: It is a composition of language and its different forms that allows individuals to communicate effectively in a society. It enables them to connect discourse to a social setting.
Sameness and Difference: Sameness allows individuals to perceive themselves as a group while difference enables social distance among those who see them as unlike.
Gulf-Pravasis: A colloquial term referring to the migrants from the state of Kerala who migrate to the Gulf and spent years working as temporary citizens primarily for economic gains.
Malayalam: The native language spoken in Kerala, a southern state in India.
GCC Nations: The Gulf Cooperation Council is a political and economic union of Arab nations consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Ingroup and Outgroup: In linguistic theory, an ingroup refers to those who are able to communicate in the dominant language and an outgroup is differentiated by their inability to speak it.