Maid to Order in Hong Kong: Stories of Migrant Workers, Second Edition

Nicole Constable

Published by Cornell University Press 2010

Maid to Order in Hong Kong

Stories of Migrant Workers, Second Edition

Nicole Constable

https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801460463

Overview
Contents

About this book

Middle-class Chinese women in the global city of Hong Kong have entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers over the past three decades, and the demand for foreign domestic workers has soared. A decade ago some foretold the decline in foreign workers and the influx of mainland workers. But today over 120,000 women from the Philippines, over 90,000 from Indonesia, and thousands more from other parts of South and Southeast Asia serve as maids on two-year contracts in Hong Kong, sending much needed remittances to their families abroad. Nicole Constable tells their story by updating Maid to Order in Hong Kong with a focus on the major changes that have taken place since Hong Kong's reunification with mainland China in 1997, the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, and the outbreak of SARS in 2002-2003. Interweaving her analysis with the women's individual stories, she shows how power is expressed in the day-to-day lives of Filipina domestic workers and more-recent Indonesian arrivals.

Author / Editor information

Nicole Constable is Professor of Anthropology, Research Professor, and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of Romance on a Global Stage, Cross-Border Marriages, Guest People: Hakka Identity in China and Abroad, and Christian Souls and Chinese Spirits.

Reviews

This ethnography is an indisputable contribution to both Asian studies and anthropology and a pioneering work in the field of transnational migration studies. I strongly recommend this lively and readable study of the complex lives of domestic workers in Hong Kong as a textbook for use in a variety of classes.

Catherine C. H. Chiu:

This book contains rich qualitative data and provides sophisticated analysis of the plights, resistance, and accommodation of domestic workers. The writing is highly engaging. I strongly recommend it to students of qualitative methodology, gender and migration studies, as well as to all those who are interested in agency and contestations of women, and who care about the struggles of the disadvantaged.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xiii
ABBREVIATIONS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxv
1. Foreign and Domestic in Hong Kong Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Global Themes and Local Patterns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
3. Superior Servants Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
4. The Trade in Workers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
5. Household Rules and Relations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
6. Disciplined Migrants, Docile Workers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
7. Resistance and Protest Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
8. Docility and Self-Discipline Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
9. Pleasure and Power Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
REFERENCES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Edition: Second Edition
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 280
Illustrations
- Other: 1 table, 1 chart/graph, 13 halftones
Keywords: Anthropology

eBook

Published: December 15, 2017
ISBN: 9780801460463