Focusing on the experience of Filipino caregivers in London, some of whom are living and working illegally in their host country, Deirdre McKay considers what migrant workers must do to navigate their way in a global marketplace. She draws on interviews and participant observations, her own long-term fieldwork in communities in the Philippines, and digital ethnography to present an intricate consideration of how these caregivers create stability in potentially precarious living situations. McKay argues that these workers gain resilience from the bonding networks they construct for themselves through social media, faith groups, and community centers. These networks generate an elaborate archipelago of care through which migrants create their sense of self.
Deirdre McKay is Senior Lecturer in Social Geography and Environmental Politics at Keele University. She is author of Global Filipinos: Migrants' Lives in the Virtual Village (IUP) and a Framing the Global fellow.
[T]his books exploration of transnational care and flows of affect offers a powerful critique of the limits of state-based articulations of belonging, responsibility and entitlement. It poses novel questions to scholars engaging with migration and care ethics in particular.
Archipelago of Careis a stimulating contribution to the literature on reproductive labour.
a distinctive perspective on global processes, and a valuable addition to the growing literature incorporating emotion into understandings&. of migration.
A beautifully written ethnography of Filipino migrants in the UK and their experience of living their lives within and across the UK and the Philippines, mediated by physical space, institutions and a series of digital media.
Acknowledgements
On Transliteration
Introduction: Archipelago of Care
1. In London
2. At Church
3. On Facebook
4. In the Community Center
5. At Our House
6. Back Home
7. In Transit
Conclusion: Clq