jimm2292008

Hi everyone

Can I ask everyone a question? my ethnic background is indian but I was born in the uk and stating the obvious I am on british passport. I have been offered a job in abu dhabi as a teacher to emirati students. I am considering taking it however I was concern of how people will treat me in everyday life. i read in the forums that most discrimination happens in salary, however that won't be a relevant to me as i have the offer and contract already. I am more concern of just in life outside of work, eg shopping, your everyday things. I read\heard somewhere that people of indian appearance were treated unfairly. is that just someone's bad story. Please don't hold back in your comments and I will really appreciate it and thank you in advance.

jim

Bahtatboy

Yep, rampant discrimination. Totally heirarchical society. Almost as bad as India.

Maxima

It might be tolerable if its a university, however I would definitely think a person of Indian origin would have a lot of trouble teaching schoolkids.

Millhouse

bit harsh... albeit true.

But, in short - you may find it tricky dealing with the locals - This sounds harsh, but if they are the lesser educated sort then you will be the tea boy in their eyes.

Elsewhere should be fine... well, you might be asked to pack a bag from time to time in Careffour (if so, just tell the pink faced ex.Tesco worker to **** off) - there are loads of dark skinned brits who get by here without hassle.

Bahtatboy

My company is a western-based multinational, and we employ Indians in managerial, engineering, sales, technical and support roles here in the UAE. We treat all employees equally in terms of race and ethnic origin. But society here in general doesn't, which was my point, and many employers here don't either.

You will suffer discrimination because of the heirarchical view taken here by so many people, of all nationalities. Discrimination is institutionalised, and that seeps out into almost all aspects of life. Most of our Indian employees do not suffer unduly, but then they spend a large proportion of their waking hours in an environment when non-discrimination is positively enforced; I would imagine that that would not be the same for many of their countrymen here.

And my point about it being similar to India was with regard to the caste system: determine someone's nationality here and you can more-or-less determine their level in society. That is a very broad generalisation with many exceptions, but it is a valid reference point.

By the way, what subject will you be teaching?

Good luck.

Boomhauer

He will almost surely expereince racism teaching Emiratis.

As a teacher he is going to get into sticky situations with the local Arab students and when that happens they undoubtedly will launch ad-hominen attacks with special attention given to his ethnicity and skin colour.

Norm_uk

The system is rather odd in that being of a certain nationality will put you up the pecking order as is it were but at the same time being of a certain ethnicity may cause others to see you as lower down the scale.

This malaise even applies to educated people. A common question here is "where are you from?" not out of genuine interest in learning about the peoples and cultures of the world, but out of knowing where you fit in the system.

It essence it is far more racist that most parts of Europe today but it's not all bad of course - just something to be aware of. Ironically the worst examples of racism seem to come from people from the sub-continent and the wider middle east.

Still, there are plenty of westerners of non-European ethnicity who manage fine here...

N.

jimm2292008

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies so far it has give me very good insights. some of you have asked me what subjects I am teaching and the environment. Well, it is Commerce, business & finance to diploma students in a institute run by the abu dhabi government. I was told the students are all young locals post secondary. anyone have thoughts on dealing with young local students if you are indian?

Thanks in advance
jim

Maxima

It wont be pleasant, thats all i will say. Firstly you may face problems if some fail. Or if someone doesnt do well, you will be accused of not teaching properly.
Sometimes you may be forced to change the rules for some people and be accused by superiors/other students of being unfair.

the institute may have a policy of 80% attendance being compulsory, yet if you implement it you will face issues.

Desert Shaikh

I think you should be more worried about racism from Indian Nationals, despite you being of the same native origin. They view the UK ones with much hostility and regard them as outsiders.

If you think you can integrate with Indians from India, then you have another thing coming. I have fellow UK nationals with Indian origins who have experienced such issues, often with abusive comments.

Boomhauer

The racism from the subcon is skin colour/caste/facial features based, I was not aware that nationality mattered at all.

The TS though is teaching locals , not Indians and while Indians might be racist towards him depending on his skin colour/features, they don't have any power over him like locals do.

5herry

As a British Asian who moved over 2 months ago - I can understand your apprehension.

To be honest, in the work place I have rarely experienced any racism but I guess everyone knows I'm from London and my accent sort of gives me away

Out & about - I've experienced a few issues, for example, when I was in a restaurant chain in the Marina (a big expat area) with a work colleague, it was as though I was invisible to the waitress and she would only look at & talk to my colleague who happens to be hungarian. When I ordered the Chilli as a main - she was like 'you do realise it isn't spicy!' as though asians eat spicy food only lol.

The only way to cope with it is to laugh of it.

Thus far - I haven't experienced any racism from the asian community or the locals whilst out & about but I'm talking from limited experience and don't want to jinx it!

I was advised by people 'to wear my passport on my sleeve' and unfortunately it's very true here! As the others have said - where you come from is vitally important to people here.

Lastly, it's a big advantage if you speak urdu / hindi as sometimes it feels like the main language here and it's helped me to get things done / direct taxi guys etc.

Good Luck with your decision

Sherry

flares

look out for Dubai Cowboys

shiva

I tend to get the exact opposite, gotta laugh

Millhouse

I imagine a scenario where a Scot and an British Indian go out for a meal together and order the same chili dish. The Indian is barked at by the waiter 'It's not spicy you know' and the Scot is told 'Sir, are you aware that this dish can be a little spicy, would you like me to ask the chef to make it less spicy?'

You know it could happen here.