The silent presence: Asian female domestic workers and Cyprus in the new Europe.

摘要

This dissertation examines the lives of South Asian women working as domestic workers in Cyprus, the Greek Cypriot women who employ them, and the intersections between domestics and employers within the context of everyday life in Cyprus. Through ethnographic fieldwork with women from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as a smaller number of women from countries such as India, Indonesia and Burma, interviews with the Greek-Cypriot women who employ them and various other actors implicated in their lives (e.g., employment agents, immigration and other government officials), and observation within the Greek-Cypriot community, the research explores how the transnational migration of Asian women factors in to the debates and tensions of belonging and "otherness" in the construction of a new European Cyprus. The research highlights the political/economic and social contexts that make migrant female labor necessary and feasible for both the female migrant and their employers, and examines the state's role in producing and maintaining a particularly subservient relationship between these women.;One of the central arguments of this dissertation is that the official classification and categorization of Asian female domestic workers shapes how these women view themselves in the context of Cyprus, as well as how Greek Cypriot employers and others view them. Similarly, official policies of the state, as well as the everyday popular discourses and practices that shape the marginalization of Asian domestic workers, in turn shape the way Cypriots see themselves. In both of these respects, the state is pivotal in impacting the relationship of female migrants to the wider society, framing the uneven employment relationship as well as creating an environment for racism. The dissertation also shows how sending states, in their economic strategies involving women, are equally important in impacting how the women they send are received in the host societies. This study contributes to a growing body of literature that explores cultural and social change in Europe as the European border expands to include more national and cultural diversity.