Understanding Migrant Women’s Domestic Cleaning as a Caring Practice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24217260 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicola Chanamuto (0000-0001-9698-0768) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-09-25 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Home Cultures (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1740-6315 • E-ISSN: 1751-7427 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17406315.2026.2733099 |
| OpenAlex | W7214345860 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
This article provides an empirical basis for the theorizing of domestic cleaning as care. An ostensibly mundane but essential part of the wider care economy, domestic cleaning has been overlooked in the literature to date. Centering the narratives of a group of migrant women cleaners in a small English city, the study adopts a feminist ethic of care which seeks to privilege the voices of this less-heard group. Semi-structured interviews provide rich insights into the hidden aspects of this work, revealing the complexities of cleaners’ relationships with clients’ homes. By applying Tronto and Fisher’s (Citation1990) typology of care, the article explores the diverse care practices involved in cleaning an empty home, including interpretations of “caregiving”, “caring about”, “taking care of”, and “care receiving”.
care economy · care ethics · Care work · caregiving · domestic workers · household cleaning · vacant housing · Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies · Feminism, Gender, and Intersectionality · Migration and Labor Dynamics
Home
The application of Feminist Standpoint Theory in social research
The Caring Self
Performing Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research
Measuring Care
Bordering care
Sensing the (in)visible
Taking out the garbage
I Know It Sounds Nasty and Stereotyped’
The Business of Caring
Left Out/Left Behind
The “Nanny” Question in Feminism
Who cares for health? Social relations, gender, and the public health. Duncan Memorial Lecture
Feminist geography, the ‘everyday’, and local–global relations
Beyond the Global Care Chain
Migration and the invisible economies of care
Moral geographies of family
A Migrant Ethic of Care? Negotiating Care and Caring among Migrant Workers in London's Low-Pay Economy
Ethnicity and the Multicultural City
Beyond openness and prejudice
Migrancy, Gender and Social Class in Domestic Labour and Social Care in Italy
Friendship-making
Learning from the Outsider Within
Migrant Male Domestic Workers in Comparative Perspective
Good Housekeeping, Great Expectations
The Unbearable Lightness of Cleaning
| Highly cited | No |
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