Paid Domestic Labour and Postcoloniality Narratives of Eritrean and Afro-Surinamese Migrant Women
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paid domestic labour and postcoloniality Narratives of Eritrean and Afro-Surinamese migrant women sabrina marchetti isbn: 978-90-39353448 Copyright ©c 2010 by Sabrina Marchetti Creative Commons Attribution Licence Cover photograph: Gisella Sorrentino Design: Heleen Schröder Printed by All Print, Utrecht paid domestic labour and postcoloniality Narratives of Eritrean and Afro-Surinamese migrant women betaald huishoudelijk werk en postkolonialiteit verhalen van Eritrese en Afro-Surinaamse migrantenvrouwen (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. J.C. Stoof, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 28 mei 2010 des ochtends te 10.30 uur door sabrina marchetti geboren op 13 februari 1977 te Rome, Italië Promotor: Prof.Dr. G. D. Wekker Co-promotor: Dr. S. Ponzanesi To the memory of my grandmothers nonna Evelina and nonna Tina, and in honour of Nabruka Mimouni table of contents Acknowledgements i introduction 1 Chapter 1 Theoretical framework 11 1 Postcoloniality 12 2 African Diaspora and ‘Black Europe’ 15 3 Narratives of memory and identity 18 4 Intersections of gender, class, age and ‘race’/ethnicity 20 5 Body work 24 6 Home as a workplace 27 7 Tactics and gendered postcolonial ‘cultural capital’ 29 Conclusion 32 Chapter 2 Methodology 34 1 Working with narratives 35 Questionnaire 36 2 The conducting of the interviews 37 Fieldwork in Rotterdam 40 • Fieldwork in Rome 41 3 Shifting ‘location’ between Rome and Rotterdam 43 Language and interactions in the field 45 Chapter 3 Backgrounds: differences and similarities in history 49 suriname Colonialism and slavery 50; Independence 53; Moving from Suriname to the Netherlands 54; Migration and racism in the Netherlands 55; Living in Rotterdam 56; Afro-Surinamese women in the Dutch care sector 57 eritrea Eritrea’s history and Italian colonialism 59; Eritrea towards independence 62; Eritrean migration to Italy 63; Migration and racism in Italy 65; Eritreans in Rome 66; Eritrean women in the Italian domestic sector 68 Conclusion 68 part i postcolonial migrants Chapter 4 Colonial acculturation and belonging 70 1 Black dutch 71 2 The ‘ambivalence’ of bonds 74 3 The case of school education 76 Suriname 77 • Eritrea 81 Conclusion 85 Chapter 5 Paramaribo and Asmara as culture-contact zones 87 1 Separation and survival of domestic slavery 89 2 A hierarchical cultural contamination 92 3 Spatial propinquity and cultures 95 4 Hierarchies within ‘familiarity’ 97 5 The case of mass and popular culture 100 Suriname 101 • Eritrea 103 Conclusion 105 Chapter 6 Postcolonial encounters: arriving in Italy and in the Netherlands 108 1 Class and belonging ‘after’ the migration 110 2 Asymmetries of recognition 113 3 The legacy of slavery 117 Conclusion 119 part ii migrant domestic labour Chapter 7 A labour niche for postcolonial migrant women 120 1 Niche formation and coloniality of power 121 2 Substitution across class and ‘race’/ethnicity 124 3 Religious figures and employment 126 4 The ‘good’ job 129 5 Agencies and ‘ethnic’ representations 131 Conclusion 133 Chapter 8 Narratives and practices of work and identity 134 1 Everyday domestic practices and identity 135 2 Rhythms and gestures of care 137 3 Self-identifications between care, cleaning and servitude 140 4 Time, tasks and female models 143 5 Time, body and enactment of power 146 Conclusion 149 Chapter 9 Ethnicisation of care and domestic skills 151 1 ‘Ethnicisation’ and the right personality 152 2 Subservience as a skill 154 3 Familiarity with domestic work as a social position 157 4 Reversal of hierarchies 159 5 Respect and discipline 164 6 The case of food and cooking 166 Eritreans 167 • Afro-Surinamese 168 Conclusion 171 Chapter 10 Racism at work, under colonial legacies 172 1 Racism, ressentiment and slavery 173 2 Home care as a ‘scenario of racism’ 175 3 Spacial confinement 178 4 Bodies: wearing inferiority 181 5 Re-enacting colonial times 184 Conclusion 187 conclusions 189 Appendix i Profiles of the Afro-Surinamese interviewees 195 Appendix ii Profiles of the Eritrean interviewees 199 Appendix iii Questionnaire 203 List of references 206 Summary 221 • Samenvatting 224 Short biography 227 list of figures fig. 1 52 Keti-koti parade in Rotterdam, 1 July 2007. (Photo by the author) fig. 2 65 The fple in Rome celebrates the Day of Eritrean Martyrs, 30 of April 1977. (From the documentary by Federico Bruno et al., 1977). fig. 3 77 Elisabeth i, Roman Catholic School, 5th grade elementary, 1966. (From private collection) fig. 4 82 Saint Anna Institute, 3rd grade elementary school, 1958. (From Il Chichingiolo website) fig. 5 92 Schoolgirls at a religious hallelujah meeting, 1963. (From private collection) fig. 6 96 State school F. Martini, 2nd grade high school, 1969/1970. (From Il Chichingiolo website) fig. 7 112 Interview with an Eritrean student working as domestic in Rome, 1977. (Photo from Federico Bruno et al., 1977) fig. 8 116 One interviewee posing with her mother before the departure for the Neth- erlands, Paramaribo, 1970s. (From private collection) fig. 9 126 Eritrean woman in Rome, 1977. (From Federico Bruno et al., 1977) fig. 10 130 In front of the Willems Bridge in Rotterdam, 1970s. (From private collection) fig. 11 143 In front of Blijdorp Zoo, Rotterdam, 1970s. (From private collection) fig. 12 149 Two Eritrean women in front of the Square Coliseum, Rome, 1977. (From Federico Bruno et al., 1977) fig. 13 157 Domestic workers at Sunday classes of Tigrino language organised by Eri- trean political parties. Rome 1977. (From Federico Bruno et al., 1977) fig. 14 163 One interviewee in the late 1960s. (From private collection) fig. 15 178 Picnic at the Kralingse Lake, Rotterdam, 1980s. (From private collection) Fig. 16 183 Eritrean domestic workers gather at Piazza Indipendenza, Rome, 1977. (From Federico Bruno et al., 1977) acknowledgements This thesis is dedicated to my grandmothers, two women who, each in their own way, inspired my passion for people’s memories. Nonna Evelina (Albano 1912 - Rome 1994), with her funny and never-ending stories told in her small kitchen in Rome, first taught me the enjoy women’s storytelling. In contrast, nonna Tina (Casablanca 1922 - Teramo 2007) was a much more quiet type. Yet when, near the end of her life, new details about her past were revealed, it became clear that she too was someone with many interesting stories to tell, but who probably preferred to keep them to herself. The third dedication goes to a woman I never met: the Tunisian Nabruka Mimouni, who killed herself in the detention centre of Ponte Galeria-Rome last May 2009. She had been living in Italy for 18 years but she was going to be repatriated after the loss of her job and, consequently, of her residence permit. I cannot stop thinking she could have been one of my interviewees. Although I am ultimately the only one responsible for the contents of this dis- sertation, I could never have carried it out without many people’s direct support. First of all I need to acknowledge the incredible contribution made by the women I inter- viewed in Rome and in Rotterdam. Without them, none of the following pages would have been written. I hope to have been faithful to their thoughts and to their feelings in my study. Beside the interviewees, my warmest thanks go to Domenica Ghidei Biidu, Lula Teclehaimanot and Elisabetta Hagos for having shared with me their experiences as Eritrean women in Rome. I want to thank Domenica especially for having trusted me to the point of engaging in several intellectual projects with me, and for sharing so many of family memories with me. I am greatly indebted to the ogc Institute and to the Graduate Gender Programme at Utrecht University for their financial and educational support. In particular, I am immensely grateful to my PhD supervisors, Prof. Gloria Wekker and Dr. Sandra Ponzanesi, whose human and intellectual support I could always trust. Together with them, I want to thank the people who commented on my papers in different sessions: Bhavani Ranganathan, Doro Wiese, Izabella Agardi, Jacco van Sterkenburg, Koen Leurs, and Nicole Immler. I also want to thank José van Aelst and Trude Oorschot for their advice. Among my friends in the Netherlands a very warm thank you goes to Adda Ingólfsdóttir, Chiara Bonfiglioli, Domitilla Olivieri and Caterina Marchionni for having offered me shelter and homely comfort in a period I really needed that. Thanks also to Samantha Profijt, Glenda Fraenk, Ellen Martinali, Marilisa Mal- izia, Dario Gentili and Giorgio Fazio who assisted me with the collection of empiri- cal data. Very special thanks go to Annabel Van Baren, Marloes Wevers and David i Bedford for their linguistic support. A deep thank you also to Gisella Sorrentino, photographer and life-long friend, who, together with Nnenko and Valentina Guer- rini, realised for me the beautiful image on the cover. I am also indebted to Marijke Van Geest, Francesco De Leonardis (Associazione Il Chichingiolo) and to some of the interviewees in Rotterdam for having offered me the in-text illustrations. A big thank you also to Heleen Schröder who took care of the complete layout of my thesis. Among the scholars working on issues of paid (migrant) domestic work, I want to thank for their suggestions, in particular Helma Lutz, Jaqueline Andall, Francesca Scrinzi and Shereen Ally. Raffaella Sarti, in particular, has also given me advice at the early stage of my PhD. I am equally indebted to Marina de Regt, Annelies Moors, Jill Alpes, Sarah van Walsum, and Yuni Chuzaifah, from the Study group on migrant do- mestic work, who made me feel part of a small yet vivid community.