Readings: Ong, "Introduction"
Constable, Maid to Order

1. How does Ong define transnationalism and flexible citizenship? How, according to Ong, do these terms focus our attention on certain processes of globalization?

2. What is Ong's critique of Appadurai's approach to globalization? Do you agree with her?

3. How are the maids described by Constable being made, by whom, and with what implications? What notions of subjectivity emerge from her discussion of accommodation and resistance?

4. What does the prevalence of Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong suggest about the relationship between gender, ethnicity, and processes of economic development?

5. How does the pun between maid and made reflect Constable's use of theorists such as Foucault and his concept of discipline? What do you think of her interpretation?

6. How do Constable's arguments about resistance and discipline relate to those of other theorists we have studied?

 

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