Abstract:Elisete Schwade Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte -BrasilCruzar fronteiras em busca de melhores condições de vida, em diferentes escalas e por distintos meios, é um fenômeno recorrente na atualidade.Maid to order in Hong Kong: stories of migrant workers considera um grupo específi co de trabalhadoras que buscam, por meio da migração, a melhoria das condições de vida -suas e de suas famílias. Trata-se das mulheres, especialmente fi lipinas, que cruzam as fronteiras para atuar como trabalhadoras domést… Show more
“…They charge high fees, which often put migrants in debt and, combined with precarious and temporary employment and strict migration policies, can constrain the mobility and freedom of migrant workers, locking them into vulnerable positions and often abusive power relations (Davidson, 2013; Kemp & Raijman, 2014; Kern & Müller‐Böker, 2015; Sha, 2021a). Some scholars call this ‘immobility in mobility’ (Bélanger & Silvey, 2020), whereas others have highlighted that migrant workers often lack rights, opportunities and protection in host societies, experiencing exclusion, exploitation and downward social mobility (e.g., Anderson, 2000; Constable, 2007; Deshingkar et al., 2019; Liang, 2011; Sha & Bhuiyan, 2022). Hence, some scholars argue that intermediaries are central to an exploitative global system of temporary labour (Awumbila et al., 2019; Sha, 2021a).…”
Section: Intermediaries Cross‐border Mobility and Inequalitymentioning
This article aims to contribute to labour recruitment policy by demonstrating the relations between cross‐border mobility and inequality through the lens of migration intermediaries. Drawing on thematic analysis of the MIDEQ project's in‐depth interviews with Nepalese labour migrants (n = 20) in Malaysia, this research reveals the range of migration intermediaries along the recruitment chain, and shows contradictory roles played by migration intermediaries: they help migrant workers access employment and other opportunities thus overcoming inequality in mobility, whilst simultaneously reproducing socio‐economic inequalities and the unequal power relations experienced by migrants. Hence, we identify a “middle space effect” that links migration processes with migration outcomes, reconstructing socio‐economic inequalities in mediated migration. We highlight the role of state policies regarding migration and labour in co‐producing such inequalities, and the embeddedness of middle space intermediaries in unequal global power dynamics, and we offer policy suggestions on regulation of labour recruitment and employment.
“…They charge high fees, which often put migrants in debt and, combined with precarious and temporary employment and strict migration policies, can constrain the mobility and freedom of migrant workers, locking them into vulnerable positions and often abusive power relations (Davidson, 2013; Kemp & Raijman, 2014; Kern & Müller‐Böker, 2015; Sha, 2021a). Some scholars call this ‘immobility in mobility’ (Bélanger & Silvey, 2020), whereas others have highlighted that migrant workers often lack rights, opportunities and protection in host societies, experiencing exclusion, exploitation and downward social mobility (e.g., Anderson, 2000; Constable, 2007; Deshingkar et al., 2019; Liang, 2011; Sha & Bhuiyan, 2022). Hence, some scholars argue that intermediaries are central to an exploitative global system of temporary labour (Awumbila et al., 2019; Sha, 2021a).…”
Section: Intermediaries Cross‐border Mobility and Inequalitymentioning
This article aims to contribute to labour recruitment policy by demonstrating the relations between cross‐border mobility and inequality through the lens of migration intermediaries. Drawing on thematic analysis of the MIDEQ project's in‐depth interviews with Nepalese labour migrants (n = 20) in Malaysia, this research reveals the range of migration intermediaries along the recruitment chain, and shows contradictory roles played by migration intermediaries: they help migrant workers access employment and other opportunities thus overcoming inequality in mobility, whilst simultaneously reproducing socio‐economic inequalities and the unequal power relations experienced by migrants. Hence, we identify a “middle space effect” that links migration processes with migration outcomes, reconstructing socio‐economic inequalities in mediated migration. We highlight the role of state policies regarding migration and labour in co‐producing such inequalities, and the embeddedness of middle space intermediaries in unequal global power dynamics, and we offer policy suggestions on regulation of labour recruitment and employment.
“…Constable (2007) in her study state that there is a specific pattern that repeated in the issue of migrant workers. Migrant workers are increasing in numbers when there is a social economic problem in their original countries [12]. For example, Constable stated in her study that in the 1980s, as the economy in the Philippines worsened, there were many Filipinas, mainly between the ages of twenty and forty, with college degrees or high school diplomas, left their families to work in homes in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia and the Middle East.…”
Being a migrant worker is a complex experience that is differently represented from one to another, which is well represented in Mahfud Ikhwan's novel, "Dawuk: Kisah Kelabu dari Rumbuk Randu". This novel narrates the life of people living at remote area. Poverty due to generational conflicts of forest management that made limited economic access, force people to migrate to other cities and neighbouring country, Malaysia. This paper is aimed at discussing the complexities of migrant workers represented in the novel. The method of analysis used in this study is Fairclough's CDA, which covers the three levels of analysis, micro, meso and macro. The study shows that the discourse of cultural ambiguity dominated the motive of the characters. In one side, freedom is the biggest motive of the migrant workers represented in the novel, in which they feel more freedom to make choice of living and working in other country, they feel free to make their way of life, not bounded with tradition. They can make money in neighbour country, Malaysia, which is contrary to the situation at home in which they have limited economic access. On the other hand, they are bounded to their home village, feeling peaceful living at home as their goal after they have enough money. The research is limited to the discourse of cultural ambiguity, so that there are many other areas of discourse that can be explored for further research.
“…The consolidation of the patriarchal sexual division of labour, postcolonial racial hierarchy, and uneven capitalist development lead to such disparity. Working-class women from the global South fill in the labour demand of care industries in the global North and prosperous areas, as for Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong (Constable 2017), Singapore (Wong 1996;Marti 2019) and Canada (Grandea and Kerr 2010;Fudge 2011); migrant women from Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe working in middle-class and upper-middle-class households in Western, Northern and Southern Europe (Anderson 2004); and undocumented immigrant women working as nannies and maids in US households (Romero 2013). These women lack legal protection of their workers' rights and often face unfair treatment or even abuse and violence.…”
Section: Transnational Migration Shaped By Capitalism Colonialism And...mentioning
The global outbreak of COVID-19 has exposed varied ways that systemic inequality shapes people’s lives. This article pays particular attention to migrant populations. While mainstream media and political discourse tend to construct migration as a problem to be addressed or even the cause of social problems, the article contends that migration should be understood as an immanent part of capitalist uneven development, entwined with patriarchy and colonialism. The post-modern approach within media and communication scholarship on migration fails to challenge media’s constitutive role in patriarchal and racial capitalism which fundamentally shapes the process and consequences of migration. Drawing from a Marxist political economic perspective, I analyse the two cases of global transnational migration and internal migration in China and argue that media and communication studies should account for material disparity and class divisions among migrant groups and look for transformative force against unequal power structures.
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