Paper Short Abstract:

Based on the mental-emotional cartographies of migrant domestic workers in HK, we explore how they relate to the city, the power (dis)continuities between the public and private spheres, and the role of both the physical/symbolic dimensions of the space in shaping their senso-spatial experiences.

Paper Abstract:

Since the 1970s HK has been a primary destination for female Filipino labour migrants. The foreign domestic helpers (mainly Filipino and Indonesian) constitute the 4.5% of the HK population, even though they are largely exposed to very hard living and work conditions, often characterised by abuse and exploitation. These women are forced by law to live in their employer’s houses where they work between 12-18 hours a day and in most cases, they don’t have their own room or private space.

On their day off (Sunday) they all go out driving to an intensive occupation of the public space across the city. This is particularly striking in the central area of the island, comprising the financial district, the most expensive and luxurious area of HK. Through an origin-based (country/region) spatialisation, squares, sidewalks, parks, and walkways become full covered by camping tents, open umbrellas and cardboard boxes (often including self-made walls) which serve as a rug for picnicking –commensality having a key structuralising role – napping, singing karaoke or dancing, among many other activities.

Based on a six-months ethnography, which includes the development of mental-emotional cartographies through participatory inquiry, this presentation explores how the city is perceived and experienced by these women; the power (dis)continuities between the public and private spheres; and the notion of collective resistance in a context in which both, the physical and symbolic dimensions of the space(s) shape their sensorial experiences in a city which becomes itself intermitent.