Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

6-2026

Document Type

Master's Capstone Project

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Program

International Migration Studies

Advisor

Robin A. Harper

Subject Categories

Eastern European Studies | Gender and Sexuality | Global Studies | Migration Studies | Other International and Area Studies | Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies | Race and Ethnicity | Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies

Keywords

semi-peripheral whiteness, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Eastern European stigma, hyper-femininity, global cities, kafala system

Abstract

This capstone examines how Central and Eastern European (CEE) women navigate professional mobility in Dubai and asks to what extent Dubai enables them to bypass the post-socialist stigma attached to their semi-peripheral European identity. Situated at the intersection of migration studies, gender, and critical scholarship on semi-peripheral whiteness, the study addresses the limited attention paid to CEE women as economic actors outside European contexts, where they are often either absorbed into the category of “Western expatriates” or reduced to highly gendered stereotypes. Grounded in a qualitative, interpretivist approach, the study combines digital discourse analysis of 50 publicly accessible LinkedIn profiles with seven supplementary semi-structured interviews with women who have professional experiences in Dubai. The findings show that elevated grooming and polished femininity appear across the sample as recurring and socially legible forms of professional self-presentation. The digital profiles also reveal strong patterns of controlled visibility, status signaling, and sustained participation in skilled sectors, despite the fact that most participants hold domestic rather than elite or Western academic credentials. Interview material further suggests that the “Eastern European stigma” does not disappear in Dubai, but is reconfigured: forms of devaluation more commonly associated with Western contexts shift toward more sexualized and conditional forms of recognition. Overall, the study makes the case that Dubai does not erase semi-peripheral hierarchy, but reworks the terms through which CEE women are recognized, valued, and positioned. In doing so, it contributes to scholarship on gendered CEE migration beyond the European framework and adds to the limited literature on highly skilled female expatriates in Dubai and the wider Gulf context.

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