Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Week 4 - Douglas Tran ASA 114

Legal Servitude and Free Illegality. I didn't know what to expect from this chapter, but Pei-Chia Lan kept me engaged for the entire chapter.  I really liked how well written this chapter was. I appreciated Lan's word choice throughout her work.  The language demonstrated just how submissive live-in workers had to be with their employers.  Also, it really helped that Lan used an anecdote at the beginning of the chapter because it helped connect the material to a real-world story.  Throughout the chapter, I couldn't help but feel bad for the live-in workers.  Despite there being efforts to negate the problems of exploitation and abuse, the legal system built for these overseas workers still doesn't do much to benefit them.  I find it interesting how being an undocumented worker seems to come with more benefits than a legal worker.  I remember learning about overseas Filipino workers last year in ASA 2.  Do you think the glorification of overseas workers perpetuates this culture of abuse with live-in workers?  I think it kind of does.  It promotes citizens to work abroad and when they get there, they find terrible working conditions.  I think what this chapter taught me is that the system abuses the work of the poor while benefiting the employer and the company that contracts the workers.


Image result for filipino overseas workers political cartoon

Source

Pei-Chia Lan, "Legal Servitude and Free Illegality: Migrant "Guest" Workers in Taiwan."

http://aseanews.net/2018/02/27/cartoon-editorials-where-is-the-punishment-by-the-philippine-star-tuesday-february-27-2018/

Pei-Chia Lan, “Legal Servitude and Free Illegality: Migrant “Guest” Workers in Taiwan.”

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