Migrant Male Domestic Workers in Comparative Perspective: Four Case Studies from Italy,India,Ivory Coast,and Congo

Abstract

This article is a contribution, from an anthropological perspective, to the understanding of how the current phase of globalization is transforming and shaping the meaning and the significance of paid domestic work, especially as far as the role of immigrant men as domestic workers is concerned. Drawing on literature about migration processes, gender relations, and domestic service, the article illustrates four case studies, set in Italy, Kerala, the Ivory Coast, and the Congo, respectively, from a comparative perspective. The research work adopted qualitative methodologies such as ethnographic interviews (355) and participant observation. The goal of the article is on one hand to show how, in all considered contexts, we witness a so-called racialization of paid domestic labor. On the other hand, the author’s fieldwork aims at raising attention to the fact that male domestic workers do not think of themselves as ‘‘failed patriarchs.’’ Migration processes, indeed, can affect gender relations and, consequently, the sexual division of labor in the domestic sphere in societies that both import and export labor.