TY - JOUR
T1 - Beyond heroes and victims
T2 - Filipina contract migrants, economic activism and class transformations
AU - Gibson, Katherine
AU - Law, Lisa
AU - McKay, Deirdre
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - This article employs anti-essentialist Marxist analysis to shed light on the diverse economic activities that Filipina contract migrants are engaged in at home and overseas. We point to the limitations of dominant representations of these women as 'heroes' of national development or 'victims' of a global capitalist economy, which tend to foreclose a discussion of multiple class processes engendered by transnational labour migration. In drawing on a fluid theory of class, we investigate how contract domestic workers are involved in multiple class processes that allow them to produce, appropriate and distribute surplus labour in innovative ways. We also discuss the activities of the Asian Migrant Centre, a non-governmental organization working with domestic workers in Hong Kong, whose efforts to inspire the entrepreneurial aspirations of these women reflect the importance of recognizing migrant workers' multiple economic identities. This analysis has implications for how we imagine the agency of contract workers, as well as the performativity of research and advocacy work.
AB - This article employs anti-essentialist Marxist analysis to shed light on the diverse economic activities that Filipina contract migrants are engaged in at home and overseas. We point to the limitations of dominant representations of these women as 'heroes' of national development or 'victims' of a global capitalist economy, which tend to foreclose a discussion of multiple class processes engendered by transnational labour migration. In drawing on a fluid theory of class, we investigate how contract domestic workers are involved in multiple class processes that allow them to produce, appropriate and distribute surplus labour in innovative ways. We also discuss the activities of the Asian Migrant Centre, a non-governmental organization working with domestic workers in Hong Kong, whose efforts to inspire the entrepreneurial aspirations of these women reflect the importance of recognizing migrant workers' multiple economic identities. This analysis has implications for how we imagine the agency of contract workers, as well as the performativity of research and advocacy work.
KW - Activism
KW - Class
KW - Contract migrants
KW - Representation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0003332489&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14616740110078185
DO - 10.1080/14616740110078185
M3 - Article
SN - 1461-6742
VL - 3
SP - 365
EP - 386
JO - International Feminist Journal of Politics
JF - International Feminist Journal of Politics
IS - 3
ER -