Paper short abstract:

Expats are often described as a distinct group of privileged foreigners living comfortably in “golden ghettos”. This paper discusses how expats negotiate and at times downplay (economic) differences among themselves in order to convey a sense of “sameness” against the local society (in Kampala).

Paper long abstract:

Drawing from my PhD research on expat migration to Kampala, Uganda I will discuss social mobility and class-diversity among this group of privileged migrants. Economic and cultural diversity among expats is often downplayed in favor of emphasizing "sameness" by disassociation from the local society; a phenomenon that has been described as "expat bubbles" or "golden ghettos".

Finding "like-minded" people with similar experiences and needs as quickly as possible is one of the important themes in the interviews I conducted. Thus, various expat groups and "personal brokers" offer possibilities for a seamless arrival to Kampala and to make friends right away. One prerequisite for a successful stay abroad was said to be the willingness to quickly meet and engage with other expats; equally offered and demanded among expats.

Certain types of diversity (e.g. national diversity) are celebrated in order to understate economic inequality and class differences and constitute expats as a distinct group of people. But the predicate of sameness becomes porous when people do not easily find access to expat groups (such as men who accompanied their wives on an expat assignment cannot join "women's groups", people who are self-deployed without a financially lucrative "expat package" or who were not willing to integrate by refusing invitations). Though expats are privileged migrants on a global scale, they are by no means a homogenous group. Thus, my paper discusses upward as well as downward social mobility of expats in order shed light into the often too homogenously described "expat bubble".