New life or no life: Reflections and readjustment of return Filipino migrant domestic workers from Hong Kong’ – Seminar with Dr Yuk Wah Chan

Sitting next to one of the village houses in San Fernando, Hildrid sighed, “We have so many memories of Hong Kong!” Many Filipino domestic workers who once worked in Hong Kong (HK) have settled back in their home country. Yet, connection with HK continued through frequent WhatsApp or Messenger messages with former employers and fellow workers in HK; of which, some are part of the familial network (sister, daughters, aunts) who are still working in HK.

Drawing on field work in different villages and towns in the Philippines, this paper explores how return Filipino workers evaluate their work life in HK and the meanings and values of overseas work to individuals, families, and the nation. From the cases that we collected, there have been intriguing emotional connections between the workers and the city of HK. All return workers have kept their HK identity cards and Octopus passes. They easily mentioned HK street and district names and told us how much they felt being a HK expert. Some followed news about HK and related to us the effort they paid in re-adjusting to life in the Philippines. Others stressed their sense of achievement after being an overseas worker and how they became different kinds of leaders in their home village. This research seeks to fill the research gap in migrant labour studies and provides an alternative venue in understanding the development-migration nexus.

Dr Yuk Wah Chan is Associate Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs, City University of Hong Kong. She is Series Editor of the Routledge Series on Asian Migration. Her areas of research cover international migration, borderland, Vietnam-China relations, identity and food. Her recent publications include a Special Issue on “In search of a greener pasture? Post-2019 migrations from Hong Kong” (co-edited with Yvette in American Behavioral Scientists), a Special Issue on “The politics of sanitization: Pandemic crisis, migration and development in Asia-Pacific (co-edited with Pei-Chia Lan in Asian and Pacific Migration Journal) and a Special Issue on “Pandemic: Border-crossing caveats” (co-edited with David Haines for Global-e Journal).

This event is co-hosted by MMB, the SPAIS Migration Research Group and the SPAIS Gender Research Centre.