September 24 (M), September 26 (W), September 28 (F), October 1 (M)

Read: Parrenas, "Transgressing the Nation-State: The Partial Citizenship and 'Imagined (Global) Community' of Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers" (Moodle article)
Constable, "Migrant Workers, Legal Tactics, and Fragile Family Formation in Hong Kong" (Moodle article)
Tizon, "My Family's Slave" (online article)
Rafael, "Lola's Resistant Dignity: Reading 'My Family's Slave' in the context of Philippine history" (online article)
McElya, "The Faithful Slave: How Alex Tizon's essay echoes a trope with deep roots in American history" (online article)
Jeong, "Mother, Wife, Slave: Lola and the universality of women's exploitation" (online article)
Lindquist, "Veils and Ecstasy: Negotiating Shame in the Indonesian Borderlands" (Moodle article)
Silvey, "Overseas Female Labor Migrant (TKW or Tenaga Kerja Wanita)" (Moodle article)

1. How does women's labor migration from the Philippines (Parrenas) shape a transnational diaspora based on partial citizenship? With what consequences?

2. How does Parrenas use Anderson's idea of imagined community to analyze Filipina domestic workers' partial citizenship and their imagined (global) community? Why does she place "global" in parentheses?

3. What role does the hero image, as described by Parrenas, play in understandings of the meaning or significance of women's transnational migration as domestic helpers? How is that image gendered?

4. What are the key rules, regulations, and laws that shape foreign domestic work in Hong Kong (Constable)? What effects do they have for foreign domestic workers who have children?

5. What kinds of legal tactics did foreign domestic workers use in the four case studies provided by Constable to extend their stays in Hong Kong? Although these cases are rare or exceptional, why does Constable see them as analytically significant?

6. What broader explanations does Tizon give as context for Lola's status in his family in the Philippines and in the United States? How does his article give insight into the dynamics fueling enslavement? How might his representation obscure other important dynamics?

7. How do Rafael, Mcelya, and Jeong respond to Tizon's article? What do you think of their arguments?

8. How does the profile of an overseas female labor migrant by Silvey yield perspectives similar to or different from those described by the other authors?

9. In the article and documentary by Johan Lindquist, what is the concept of malu and why is it of particular concern to female migrants on Batam? How is veiling a response to the dilemmas of malu?

 

Topic for RESPONSE PAPER #3 (2-3 pages, double-spaced, due on October 1 by email before class to Professor Leshkowich.) Please remember to submit your paper as a Microsoft Word document named lastname3.docx.

What Do Individual Stories of Migration Teach Us? Transnational labor migration is clearly a macro-structural process shaped by national and international law, global economic structures, and conceptions of citizenship and human rights. For example, Parrenas (2001) describes that the migration of Filipina domestic workers as follows: "A particular result of global restructuring, this labor diaspora is a product of the export-led development strategy of the Philippines, the feminization of the international labor force, and the demand for migrant women to fill low-wage service work in many cities throughout the world" (1130).

A key claim of anthropology is that these macro processes are fundamentally shaped through daily actions and experiences. This assignment asks you to consider what we learn about transnational migration by considering one person's story. Pick the story of one person or episode recounted in the readings. After describing the person or episode, explain what the story suggests about cultural, social, economic, political, or legal issues surrounding transnational migration. How does the story allow us to understand the relationship between broader structures and individual choices or circumstances in transnational migration? Based on your discussion, your thesis should address the following central question: What do you see as the strengths, weaknesses, and/or significance of finely grained ethnographic research for illuminating global dynamics? (Hint: be sure that your answer to this question also includes your assessment of how the author of the ethnographic case that you have selected analyzes the significance of that case.)