Labor, Health, and Marginalization: A Culture-Centered Analysis of the Challenges of Male Bangladeshi Migrant Workers in the Middle East

ORCID Identifiers

0000-0002-9100-1089

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Qualitative Health Research

Publication Date

9-1-2020

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2020. Based on the culture-centered approach, we examine the meanings of health and negotiations of health care structures among low socioeconomic status (SES) Bangladeshi male migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We engage in coconstructive problem definition and strategizing through 44 semistructured in-depth interviews/focus groups about health, migration, and well-being. Our analysis of the participants’ narratives elucidates the intersectionality of health as a lived experience of migrant labor within neoliberal structures focused on labor extraction, highlighting health not as a static or purely epidemiological construct, but as a combination of the physical, mental, spiritual, and socioeconomic material realities within which they are located. These include a recognition of the importance of interconnectedness of physical and mental well-being, drawing upon one’s cultural and familial roles and responsibilities, as well as locating health within structurally exploitative practices. Specifically, the participants articulate the absence of substantive health and labor protections that result in poor health outcomes for them.

ISSN

1049-7323

Publisher

SAGE Publications Inc.

Volume

30

Issue

11

First Page

1723

Last Page

1736

Disciplines

Economics | Medicine and Health Sciences | Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Bangladesh, culture, culture-centered approach, health, marginalization, Middle East, migrant population, migration, qualitative

Scopus ID

85085943833

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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