Domestic work, affective labor, and social reproduction in South Asian America: A tribute to Laxmi Soni
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Abstract
- Like my parents, many post-1965 professional Indian migrants to the United States
brought with them live-in domestic workers who were formative in the raising of
second-generation South Asian diasporics like myself, often referred to in the literature
as ABCDs, or “American-Born Confused Desis.” Yet, both in explorations
of second-generation South Asian diasporic identity and in more recent work that
implicates class in the formation of NRI (Non-Resident Indian) subjects, this population
has received little to no attention. Weaving together autoethnography with
scholarly literature on both diaspora and domestic work, this article explores the role
of domestic work and affective labor in the social reproduction of the Indian American
diaspora through the story of Laxmi Soni (via my recollections), who worked
as a nanny in my family for over eighteen years. I suggest academic approaches to
nannies and other care workers that complicate the class- and race-based analyses
that currently exist within the literature on globalization, the feminization of labor, and the so-called “chain of care.”
| Title | Domestic work, affective labor, and social reproduction in South Asian America: A tribute to Laxmi Soni |
|---|---|
| Creator | Vora, Neha |
| Publisher | Feminist Formations |
| Academic Department | Anthropology & Sociology |
| Division | Social Sciences |
| Organization | Lafayette College |
| Date Issued | 2014 |
| Date Available | 2015-05-21T18:54:57Z |
| Type | Article |
| Language | English |
| Keyword | domestic work |
| South Asian diaspora | |
| Asian American identity | |
| autoethnography | |
| affective labor | |
| Bibliographic Citation | Vora, N. (2014) "Domestic work, affective labor, and social reproduction in South Asian America: A tribute to Laxmi Soni." Feminist Formations 26 (2): 162-85. |
| Standard Identifier | DOI 10.1353/ff.2014.0019 |
| Handle 10385/1949 | |
| Permalink | http://hdl.handle.net/10385/1949 |
| Rights Statement |
In Copyright
|
| Rights Holders | Feminist Formations |
Contains
| File | Vora-FeministFormations-vol26-2014.pdf | Uploaded 2019-10-20 | Public | Download |
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