Seminar: Embodied experiences and the politics of resistance

Join us for two paper talks!

From Resilience to Resistance: Indonesia Female migrant domestic workers’ (FMDWs) long-distance voting behaviour

Ayu Kusumastuti, Sociology and Social Policy University of Leeds

Indonesian female voters abroad have outnumbered male voters. In both the 2014 and 2019 Indonesian electoral races, female migrants participated in homeland elections. However, there is limited literature on the participation of female migrants in homeland electoral politics. By recruiting 58 (fifty-eight) participants from FMDWs, key experts, and the lens of migrant political transnationalism, this research reveals that they performed varied political behaviours beyond the national border, depending on their decision-making capacity toward goals for themselves and each other: resilience, rebound, remoteness, and resistance. First, the logic of transition policy in the host country, roots and identity as Indonesian and political socialisation from home country shape migrant resilient nationalism sentiment, polarisation, and mobilisation to support Mr. Jokowi for president from abroad. Second, FMDWs’ political agency also leverages their individual motivation from inactive voter to active voter in rebound political behaviour. Thirdly, a domestic worker's "remote" employment status impedes their ability to participate in public. Finally, they expeience resistance due to their understanding of the technical, financial, and transparency costs associated with voting abroad. Additionally, they collectively believe that their home country is unable to guarantee the voting rights of female migrants.

Embodied Arrivals: Migrant Newcomers and Urban Arrival Infrastructure

Zhuo Pang, Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield

Migration is a global phenomenon experienced locally, with ordinary urban spaces playing a crucial role in newcomers' arrival processes. While recent scholarship has highlighted the concept of "arrival infrastructure" to understand how migrants navigate new environments, there remains a gap in addressing the materiality of urban spaces and migrants' embodied, everyday mobilities. This research aims to explore the embodied experiences of migrant newcomers as they engage with various urban spaces during their arrival process in the Greater Boston Area.