Contesting Disciplinary Power: Transnational Domestic Labour in the Global South

Abstract

Using Foucault’s concept of power as a social relation of the unequal, this paper attempts to describe the resistance struggles of non-citizen domestic workers placed in a work environment beyond the reach of their support group. Based on a study conducted between 2001 and 2013 using non-consecutive in-depth interviews and participant observation among Filipino domestics in Kuala Lumpur, the paper’s findings indicate that the “victimisation” issue is not the only prism through which one can view the place of women migrant workers involved in transnational labour migration. The dynamic social interaction and the forging of different levels of social relationships in a strange sociocultural environment could be used to interpret other non-traditional spheres of interaction, such as language, cultural rituals and social labelling. 

Keywords:

• Disciplinary power
• domestic labour
• Filipino domestic workers
• Malaysia
• transnational migrants

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the two reviewers of this paper for their critical comments that helped to improve it to its current form. I am indebted to St John’s Filipino community in Kuala Lumpur and Bahay ni Maria in Petaling Jaya for their longstanding support and cooperation while I conducted this research.

Notes

1. Notes

FOMEMA is a company appointed by the Malaysian government to undertake the Foreign Workers' Medical Examination program. Especially during the renewal of work permits, employers are required to bring their domestic workers to this unit to receive a health certificate; otherwise, no permit is approved.