Contesting Disciplinary Power: Transnational Domestic Labour in the Global South

Lumayag, Linda Alfarero (2018) Contesting Disciplinary Power: Transnational Domestic Labour in the Global South. Asian Studies Review, 42 (1). pp. 161-177. ISSN 1035-7823

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Abstract

Using Foucault’s concept of power as a social relation of the unequal, this paper attempts to describe the resistance struggles of non-citizen domestic workers placed in a work environment beyond the reach of their support group. Based on a study conducted between 2001 and 2013 using non-consecutive in-depth interviews and participant observation among Filipino domestics in Kuala Lumpur, the paper’s findings indicate that the “victimisation” issue is not the only prism through which one can view the place of women migrant workers involved in transnational labour migration. The dynamic social interaction and the forging of different levels of social relationships in a strange sociocultural environment could be used to interpret other non-traditional spheres of interaction, such as language, cultural rituals and social labelling. © 2018 Asian Studies Association of Australia.

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