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“Too Much Mushkilla” : Sociolinguistic and Cultural Challenges of Ghanaian Migrant Workers in Qatar’s Education City

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submitted on 2025-06-22, 09:18 and posted on 2025-06-22, 09:20 authored by Al-Hadar Mumuni

This study examines the sociolinguistic and cultural challenges faced by Ghanaian migrant workers in Qatar's Education City. Despite the growing number of studies on migrants and migration in Qatar and the GCC, previous studies have primarily focused on the physical abuse and treatment of these workers, neglecting to recognize migration as a sociocultural phenomenon. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the sociocultural and linguistic challenges encountered by low-skilled Ghanaian migrant workers in Education City, employing Bourdieu's theory of practice as its analytical framework. The research adopts an ethnographic case study approach and utilizes qualitative methodology, including in-depth semi-structured interviews with 9 Ghanaian workers in Education City. Through this methodology, the study identifies three main sets of challenges the workers face: social, linguistic, and economic. These challenges encompass various aspects such as dietary practices, experiences of discrimination, and the homogenization of cultural diversity. While these challenges hinder the social integration of Ghanaian workers in Education City and Qatar as a whole, the study reveals that migrant workers employ various coping mechanisms to address them. These individuals exhibit remarkable agency through establishing robust social networks and kinship ties, adapting to the dominant linguistic structures, and creating financial support systems.

This research contributes to the academic discourse by emphasizing the necessity for enhanced intercultural communication strategies and the development of more inclusive policies within Education City. Such initiatives are critical for fostering the well-being and social integration of migrant workers in increasingly multicultural work environments. The study also contributes theoretically by framing sociolinguistic and cultural challenges within a Bourdieusian framework, revealing habitus adjustments and the accumulation of capitals within migratory fields.

History

Language

  • English

Publication Year

  • 2024

License statement

© The author. The author has granted HBKU and Qatar Foundation a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to reproduce, display and distribute the manuscript in whole or in part in any form to be posted in digital or print format and made available to the public at no charge. Unless otherwise specified in the copyright statement or the metadata, all rights are reserved by the copyright holder. For permission to reuse content, please contact the author.

Institution affiliated with

  • Hamad Bin Khalifa University
  • College of Humanities and Social Sciences - HBKU

Geographic coverage

Ghana and Qatar

Degree Date

  • 2024

Degree Type

  • Master's

Advisors

Deborah Giustini

Committee Members

Julie Boeri | Fatima Sadiqi

Department/Program

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

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    College of Humanities and Social Sciences - HBKU

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