Description
The movement of peoples across the globe for work, livelihoods, trade, and cultural exchange has been a constant in human history. This panel explores comparative forms of labor migration across several geographies—South Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Panelists will think critically through the cultural designation of low-waged migrant laborers as the “heroes” of the contemporary global South and their role in the global economy as vital sources of both remittances for their families and labor for the global economy.
Key moments
- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:50 Panel begins
- 10:30 – 14:35 Hae Yeon Choo describes the forms of containment experienced by migrant women in South Korea. For instance, immigration raids, and spatial segregation are both used to contain migrant workers.
- 18:05 – 19:08 Hae Yeon Choo says that anti-Asian racism and violence in Atlanta illustrates the need to center the voices of Asian migrant and working-class women in general, not only when violence occurs.
- 23:44 – 25:00 James Gabrillo uses sonic ethnography to illuminate the everyday sounds of caregiving as part of an effort to make visible the experiences of migrant care workers.
- 44:00 – 46:30 Rui Jie Peng discusses how China prevented migrant workers in urban areas from returning to their rural homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This created economic hardships for these workers and their families: migrant workers confined to cities struggled to find work as the service sector contracted as the sale of crops from rural areas declined.
