“The Other Side of Hope: Agentic Ambiguity of Irregular Gulf Housemaids from Nepal”

• In Event: Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 11: Immigration, Legal Status, and Incorporation

Abstract

Labor migration has been identified as a pressing social issue and as a mainstay of developing economies. The plight and prospect of South Asian women who stealthily cross the border/s to work due to recurring bans and restrictions, however, still remains less visualized. Drawing on in-depth conversations with ten women from Nepal, I argue that irregular female migrants embody an “ambiguous agency” and are shaped by interacting structures that can constrain and facilitate their movement. Constraining factors like entrenched caste and ethnic hierarchies, and the state policies, try to act in opposite directions, but family can be an intervening factor that facilitates the agentic actions of Nepali women. This agency is not solely emancipatory, as it remains compromised by risks of exploitation and the perpetuation of hierarchical labor structures. Moreover, these dynamics reinforce existing systems, including the gendered fragmentation of roles and the global care regime.

Author

• Nirmal Acharya, Wayne State University