Dr Saba A. Le Renard talks to Dr Sarah Kunz about their recent book ‘Western Privilege: Work, Intimacy and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai’ (Stanford University Press, 2021). They explain how ‘Westerness’ is an integral part of the social order in Dubai and how it matches, but does not fully overlap, with whiteness. They also discuss how the idea of neoliberal multiculturalism helps to make sense of the reproduction of race and inequality in a city that presents itself as a peaceful, cosmopolitan melting pot. (Please note that Saba published this book under a first name that they have stopped using since the recording of this interview.)

Saba A. Le Renard is a Researcher in Sociology at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris.

Sarah Kunz is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Essex and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, a post she previously held at the University of Bristol when she recorded this interview. Her research currently focuses on the Citizenship Industry.

MMB Insights and Sounds is a series of interviews by members of Migration Mobilities Bristol (MMB) with colleagues around the world on key issues relating to migration and mobilities.

This interview was recorded on 7th February 2022.

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