Citation

Huang S, Yeoh BSA. Mobilities 2007; 2(2): 195-217.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17450100701381557

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how the emotional disruptions and disconnections associated with transnational mobility and moving are aggravated when abuse is perpetrated on transnational domestic workers who provide emotional labour in the homes of their employers. While research on the home as a cage or prison has focused on domestic violence against women and children in the family, we investigate – through an analysis of court transcripts and newspaper reports – the home as a site not only of domestic service, but also of domestic abuse, of vulnerable foreign ‘others’ taken into the home, often masked by the discourse of being ‘one of the family’. The analysis and conclusions in our paper chime with work by feminists for the need to challenge taken-for-granted associations between gender oppression in the home and patriarchy. Additionally, we draw attention to how a focus on the moving experiences of emotional pain at the personal level can contribute to a richer appreciation of how structural changes at the societal level are spawned.