GLOBALIZED LABOUR KNOWLEDGES BETWEEN THE ASIA-PACIFIC AND THE MIDDLE EAST
2016-2018
This project was a collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Mission for Migrants and explored domestic workers’ labour decision-making and migration trajectories between Asia and the Middle East, with a particular focus on working conditions, assistance mechanisms and support networks, and priorities for domestic worker rights efforts.
This project was supported by the University Research Committee, University of Hong Kong.
PUBLICATIONS
GOD BLESSED ME WITH EMPLOYERS WHO DON'T STARVE THEIR HELPERS: FOOD INSECURITY AND DEHUMANIZATION IN DOMESTIC WORK
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the intercorporeal dimensions of dehumanization in intimate labor through the control of food for domestic workers by employers. The concept of dehumanization, or “the denial of full humanness to others” (Haslam, 2006) offers a useful framework for understanding the spectrum of harms that workers may experience, including those that may be legible as criminal offenses as well as harms that may be woven into the day‐to‐day management of private households. We argue that food insecurity offers a fruitful lens for understanding how intercorporeal relations are shaped through workers' bodies. This analysis starts with an examination of dehumanizing food practices, based on interviews with 48 Filipina and Indonesian domestic workers. This is followed by an analysis of domestic workers' resistance to dehumanization and concludes with a discussion of the potential of food practices in rehumanizing domestic work.