Abstract
Since 2000, thousands of young Filipino migrants have come to Denmark as au pairs. Officially, they are there to “broaden their cultural horizons” by living temporarily with a Danish host family, but they also conduct domestic labor in exchange for food and money, which allows them to send important remittances back home. Their time in Denmark is also often part of long-term migration trajectories involving future stays in Scandinavia and southern Europe. Based on ten months of fieldwork among current and former au pairs in Denmark and ten weeks of fieldwork among prospective au pairs and au pair-sending families in the Philippines, this dissertation examines the long-term trajectories of these young Filipinas. It shows how the au pairs’ local and transnational family relations develop over time and greatly influence their life trajectories. A focal point of the study is how au pairs associate their migration with forms of self-making that are shaped by socially informed imaginings and desires, and how the pursuit of “becoming a success” includes a positioning and re-positioning within the families in which the au pairs participate in both Denmark and the Philippines.
The core ethnographic component of the dissertation consists of four articles, all emphasizing the au pairs’ agency by viewing their migration as a dynamic personal and social experience. Arguing that Filipina au pairs tend to be understood primarily from the perspective of their precarious situation as domestic workers from the global South, the first article demonstrates how Facebook can be a fruitful methodological tool in the aspiration to open up the research to new themes of inquiry. However, rather than disregarding the au pairs’ economic problems, the dissertation shows how their family participation and dreams for the future become intertwined with their financial possibilities, limitations and responsibilities. The following three articles employ the notion of relatedness to explore the transnational and local social networks, including family relations, of which the au pairs are part. Arguing that Filipina au pairs see their stay abroad as an avenue of personal development and social recognition, I examine how the au pairs re-position themselves within their families at home through migration, and how they navigate between the often conflicting expectations of participation in the sociality of their Danish host families. Based on their migratory status as au pairs, these young migrants must therefore negotiate the different moral and contractual rights and obligations that characterize the local and transnational family ties in which they are engaged. This study of Filipina au pair migration through the Danish au pair scheme therefore speaks to current research on domestic work migration, the transnational family relations of young Filipina migrants and the forms of self-transformation that Filipino migration might engender.
The core ethnographic component of the dissertation consists of four articles, all emphasizing the au pairs’ agency by viewing their migration as a dynamic personal and social experience. Arguing that Filipina au pairs tend to be understood primarily from the perspective of their precarious situation as domestic workers from the global South, the first article demonstrates how Facebook can be a fruitful methodological tool in the aspiration to open up the research to new themes of inquiry. However, rather than disregarding the au pairs’ economic problems, the dissertation shows how their family participation and dreams for the future become intertwined with their financial possibilities, limitations and responsibilities. The following three articles employ the notion of relatedness to explore the transnational and local social networks, including family relations, of which the au pairs are part. Arguing that Filipina au pairs see their stay abroad as an avenue of personal development and social recognition, I examine how the au pairs re-position themselves within their families at home through migration, and how they navigate between the often conflicting expectations of participation in the sociality of their Danish host families. Based on their migratory status as au pairs, these young migrants must therefore negotiate the different moral and contractual rights and obligations that characterize the local and transnational family ties in which they are engaged. This study of Filipina au pair migration through the Danish au pair scheme therefore speaks to current research on domestic work migration, the transnational family relations of young Filipina migrants and the forms of self-transformation that Filipino migration might engender.
| Original language | English |
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| Number of pages | 162 |
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| ISBN (Print) | 9788776118327 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |