Asia Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 49, No. 3, December 2008 ISSN 1360-7456, pp344–353 Female transnational migration, religion and subjectivity: The case of Indonesian domestic workers Catharina P. Williams School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra ACT, Australia. Email: [email protected] Abstract: Drawing on an analysis of in-depth interviews with returned migrant women from East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, this paper considers the links between migration, religious beliefs and subjectivity. Low-skilled migrant women, including domestic workers, have often been represented as marginalised. This paper argues that in the context of migration, women constantly move through trajectories of power using religion as a spiritual resource. Against the commonly patriarchal char- acteristics of their religion and community, the women employ cognitive strategies to face challenges in migration. In each stage of their transnational migration, the women’s experiences reveal the multitude of ways in which they continue to invest in their beliefs through everyday practices, rituals and networking. These experiences highlight the women’s strategies in accessing different forms of power. This study demonstrates the significance of focusing on these women’s experiences, including their everyday religious practices and their shifting sense of self, as a way of broadening the conceptual basis of our understanding of female migration. Keywords: Eastern Indonesia, female migration, religion, subjectivity Eastern Indonesian women’s mobility 1990s, contract migration has increased steadily to meet the rising demand for domestic Every day, hundreds of Indonesian women pass helpers in Asian metropolitan areas such as through cramped ports, stations and terminals. Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur On buses, ferries and ships, women are on the (Hugo, 2000). Remittances from domestic work move as part of a relatively recent stream of also have increasing significance to both the migrants seeking work and opportunity in government and the families of individual places away from home. Recent increases in workers (Heyzer and Wee, 1994; Barbicˇ and female migration in Indonesia reflect a general Miklavcˇicˇ-Brezigar 1999), particularly in the rise in population mobility, which is linked to aftermath of the financial crisis in 1998 in Indo- rising incomes, education and better com- nesia. Remittances made by women working munication and transport services (Hill, 1996). abroad help sustain the household purchasing Women’s mobility also positively correlates power at home (Hugo, 2000). Following the with their participation in the labour market, crisis, more than one million Indonesian con- particularly in the fast-growing sectors of edu- tract workers migrated abroad, with three quar- cation and health services that provide sources ters of them working as domestic helpers. of mass employment (Oey-Gardiner, 1997; This paper focuses on the movement of Manning, 1998). Indonesia’s integration into women from one of the poorest and least devel- the global economy provides a further context oped regions in Indonesia: the province of East for women’s increased mobility. Globalisation Nusa Tenggara. The province suffers from the accelerates flows of finance, goods and infor- combined effects of remoteness, inadequate mation as well as movements of people, includ- infrastructure and limited natural resources ing transnational migration. Since the early (Corner, 1989). It is a diverse region of scattered © 2008 The Author doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8373.2008.00382.x Journal compilation © 2008 Victoria University of Wellington Female transnational migration, religion and subjectivity islands with hilly and mountainous topography, away, and self and other. The movement of limited arable land, poor soils, aridity and a migration is more than a physical act of shifting small dispersed population that occupies between one geographical location or cultural pockets of fertile land pursuing subsistence experience and another. Through migration, a lifestyles. Difficulties in transport and commu- woman crosses from a space of familiarity to the nication create a sense of isolation (Jones and unknown, heightening her sense of self. She is Raharjo, 1995). The region consists of 4.7 no longer confined to her gendered identity at million hectares of land supporting 4.3 million home as a mother, sister or daughter. Moving inhabitants, 90% of whom are Christians physically in space as a transnational migrant (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2005). With less provides women with an opportunity to imagi- than 20% of the population living in urban natively redefine themselves and adopt new areas, it is one of the least urbanised and subject positions as a waged worker, an urban poorest provinces in Indonesia with a low resident and commuter, a consumer, someone annual gross regional product per capita – with admittedly limited free time. Migration Rp756 000 (real 2000 price) (UNDP, 2004). In stimulates ‘the self-conscious recognition’ of 2000, I spent six months following some of the one’s position and a move beyond it (Blunt and trails of Eastern Indonesian women as they Rose, 1994: 16). moved by sea, from the islands of Flores and Liberating and exciting though it may be, this Timor in East Nusa Tenggara to the urban shift in sense of self or subjectivity is not easy. centres of Surabaya (East Java) and Makassar Young women’s mobility in East Nusa Tenggara (Sulawesi). In 2007, I made two follow-up visits is viewed differently from men’s. The gender to Central and East Flores also Kupang where I division of labour and space assigns women conducted interviews with some of the returned to home (Vatter, 1932; Tule, 2004). Therefore, migrants. The field research conducted in 2000 travel and autonomous migration are mainly a focused on the popular migration destinations man’s entitlement. Women’s mobility is usually established by census data, and also on the associated with family migration; hence, a places of origin of the migrants and was con- single woman who chooses to migrate is an ducted while travelling on boats in the region.1 exception. Her mobility may be viewed as a During my very first fieldwork voyage in disruption, containing tensions and contradic- Eastern Indonesia, I met a young woman in a tions that require legitimation. As a head of kin boat who graciously shared ‘her space’ on the and household, a man is institutionalised in lower deck with me. Not only did she literally adat (customary law) to control women’s give me a space on a wooden bench to sit on, mobility by his power over decision-making. but metaphorically she also created a space for Male kinfolk assume responsibility for young me to start an ethnography of woman travellers, women’s protection and reputation (Tule, by readily sharing her stories as a migrant. The 2004). My concern in this paper is how women main purpose of her migration was to look for from relatively protected backgrounds negotiate opportunity. In this, her aims were similar to the radical shift in subjectivity that is part of the those of many migrants who see migration as a migration process. I focus on how women use search for a place where happiness may be religion to achieve their goals to obtain a degree found, ‘a utopian space of freedom, abundance of comfort and security throughout the difficult and transparency’, that would constitute a break stages of transnational migration. or ‘an inversion of everyday order’ where new Local tradition in Eastern Indonesia natura- opportunities and possibilities could emerge lises the notion of a woman carrying out her (Curtis and Pajaczkowska, 1994). gendered roles and duties with love and devo- Her story drew my attention to how contem- tion, as mother, sister, daughter and member of porary Eastern Indonesian women’s migration the clan and local community. Particularly for reflects the joint appeal of movement and of Lio (Flores) women, the self-sacrifice model is leaving home. Langgar laut, literally meaning magnified in the legend of the Rice Maiden (Ine ‘crossing the ocean’, also means ‘crossing the Mbu) who was prepared to die – to transform threshold of home’. This threshold is both cul- herself into rice – to feed others so they might tural and geographical, separating home and live (Orinbao, 1992). Christianity reinforces © 2008 The Author 345 Journal compilation © 2008 Victoria University of Wellington C.P. Williams local tradition in serving others by ‘following In a nation that is predominantly Muslim, the God’s will’. As evident in the everyday ritual province of East Nusa Tenggara stands out for when they pray ‘Our Father..., Thy will be its predominantly Christian population. In my done ...’, local women resort to religion to research, I observed the importance of religion legitimise their leaving home and seeking in their daily lives. Some migrants referred to opportunity abroad. I reflect here on the stages following God’s will as a way of normalising of migration and the role that religion plays in their marginalised social and economic position the experience of migrating and moving into in the community – as a woman, with low eco- contested spaces (Tsing, 1993). nomic status and a member of a religious minor- ity. Women told stories of how throughout the process of migration they drew strength from their religious belief as a way of coping and Religion, migration and women enduring any hardships.