Consuming the transnational family

Indonesian migrant domestic workers to Saudi Arabia

Bibliographic Data

ID5014302
AuthorsRachel Silvey (0000-0003-4604-7122, University of Colorado Boulder, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume6
Issue1
Pages23-40
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Networks (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1471-0374.2006.00131.x
OpenAlexW2075511611
LanguageEN
Citations received88
References cited41

There is heated debate in contemporary Indonesia about the rights and regulation of transnational women migrants, specifically about the ‘costs to families’ of women working overseas, but little attention has been given to women migrants' own views of family or women's own motivations for migration. In this article, which is based on field work in a migrant-sending community in West Java, I focus on migrant women's narratives of transnational migration and employment as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia. I contribute to the literature on gender and transnational migration by exploring migrants' consumption desires and practices as reflective not only of commoditized exchange but also of affect and sentiment. In addition, I show in detail how religion and class inflect low-income women's narrations of morally appropriate mothering practices. In conclusion, I suggest that interpreting these debates from the ground up can contribute towards understanding the larger struggles animating the Indonesian state's contemporary relationships with women and Islam

Economic growth · Focus group · Geography · Indonesian · Islam · Migrant workers · Narrative · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Asian Studies and History · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics

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