The article, based largely on fieldwork in Gulf countries and in Kerala, focuses on female nurses from Kerala who have worked, are currently working or are preparing to work in Gulf countries. It examines in particular to what extent these women today aspire not only to a lucrative career abroad, but also to a new lifestyle in which traditional gender-based restrictions are replaced by increased and improved female agency and a focus on the nuclear family. The main goal of this article is to demonstrate how, after three decades, the migration of Keralese nurses to the Gulf has evolved into an actual migratory strategy to take advantage of the various new opportunities available in western countries. After two generations of nurse migration, evolutions, which are closely linked to the emergence of an Indian – or, more precisely, a Keralese – diaspora in the Gulf countries, are now taking on a much wider global dimension, with significant implications on lifestyle choices.
have met many young Christian men 1 in Kerala whose ambition, like Philip's, was to migrate by marrying a nurse. If the matrimonial market used to be harsh on nurses a few decades ago, the picture has changed and nurses are now on high demand. The stigma attached to this profession in India has certainly not completely vanished, but in Kerala, nursing has become a real chance to enhance one's career opportunities. While visiting matrimonial websites, 2 it is easy to check how much they are looked after by prospective grooms. However despised may the commonly named USA nurses be by the highest class/casts (George, 2005), they tend to represent the key to the Western dream for loads of young men belonging to the Christian Malayali 3 *I wish to thank Aurélie Varrel for her valuable comments and Laurence Renn for her careful reading of the last version of this paper.
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