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Doméstica. Domestic Work in So Cal’s Global City. “the new world domestic order”. The new world Early modern roots of globalization = European colonization + native genocide Los Angeles Southern California Western Hemisphere (US -Mexico-Central America)
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Doméstica Domestic Work in So Cal’s Global City
“the new world domestic order” • The new world • Early modern roots of globalization = European colonization + native genocide • Los Angeles Southern California Western Hemisphere (US-Mexico-Central America) • The new world order (Novus ordoseclorum) • Post-WWI (Woodrow Wilson) & Post-WWII (UN, NATO,IMF) • Post-Cold War – fall of Soviet Communism & rise of Western capitalism • Post-9/11 – globalized economies & permeability of borders • The new world domestic order • Global cities= survival circuits + invisible domestic labor
So Cal Survival Circuits • Los Angeles as global city • Deindustrialization = growing gap between rich and poor • Economic center of Pacific Rim = growing service economy • Pre-existing circuits of imperialism + Bracero Program+ MX economic crises feminization of Mexican labor • Civil War + Military Insurrections increased Central American immigration
Social Reproduction • Aka “reproductive labor” = “the myriad of activities, tasks, and resources expended in the daily upkeep of homes and people” (Sotelo 23) • Who performs reproductive labor and why? • Naturalized by gender • Naturalized by race/class • Home & domestic space as contradictory site of privacy/intimacy as well aslabor/exploitation • Complexity of race, gender, class in patriarchy (Sotelo 22-23)
Transnational • “To be a good mother, I had to leave my children” • Maternal material duty versus maternal affective duty • Competing models of motherhood • Western ideals of “isolationist, privativized mothering” (Sotelo 25) • Dedicated mother/housewife • Working mother • Career woman/household manager • Mothering for hire domestic caregivers and transnational motherhood • Debates over good mothering = simultaneously resisting and rehearsing gendered, racialized, and classed strictures Motherhood
La Doméstica • Live-in nanny/housekeeper • Lack of boundaries, lowest wages • Most exploitative of newest immigrants – “the bridging occupation” • Food & dehumanization (Sotelo 35) • Live-out nanny/housekeeper • Clearer boundaries, relatively higher pay • Possibility for family life • Housecleaner • Higher hourly wages, shorter work week, flexibility • Constant cultivation of network & route of casas
Informal Labor • Informal vs formal labor • Taxed and monitored by governmental agencies; subject to regulation and accountability • Informality of hiring practice social networks, references and reputations • lack of official pay standardization • Decrease of wages with longer work tenure (83) • Withholding of information between employers (86) • lack of clarification of worker’s duties and employer responsibilities • Agencies = formalizing the informal for certain nannies (103) • Lack of clear etiquette for termination = blow ups & white lies
MaternalismvsPersonalism • Formal boss-employee relationship vs informal relationship between employer & domestic worker • Complicated by labor performed in private sphere • Determined by differing positions of privilege & power • Maternalism – “a one-way relationship, defined primarily by the employer’s gestures of charity, advice, assistance, and gifts” (207-208) • White women helping out brown women • Personalism – “a two-way relationship, albeit still asymmetrical [that]involves the employer’s recognition of the employee as a particular person” (208) • As necessary improvement to invisibility & dehumanization (201)
