top of page

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.

 

Screen Shot 2020-10-07 at 11.16.38 AM.pn

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.

Ham, J. and Ceradoy, A. (2021), “God blessed me with employers who don't starve their helpers”: Food insecurity and dehumanization in domestic work. Gender Work Organ. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12643
Ham, J. (2020, August 16). Indonesian domestic workers preventing criminalization of identification [Opinion]. The University of Hong Kong Department of Sociology. Retreived from https://sociology.hku.hk/news/2016/08/indonesian-domestic-workers-preventing-criminalization-identification/

MEDIA

HONG KONG

FREE PRESS

5 SEPTEMBER 2017

Images source: South China Morning Post

Screen Shot 2020-09-07 at 2.23.08 PM.png
Screen Shot 2020-09-07 at 2.26.11 PM.png

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

3 SEPTEMBER 2017
Screen Shot 2020-09-07 at 2.29.08 PM.png

EJ INSIGHT

12 MAY 2016

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

20160807_173718.jpg

KNOW THE LAW, AVOID BEING PROSECUTED -
LEGAL SOCIALISATION FOR INDONESIAN MIGRANT WORKERS IN HONG KONG

7 AUGUST 2016

Approximately 300 Indonesian domestic workers met with the Indonesian Consulate General at a forum co-sponsered by the Department of Sociology and the Centre for Criminology to discuss the criminalization of identification documents and srategize steps to assist domestic worker victims of identity falsification.

bottom of page