Labor and Identity: Latina Migrant Women and the Service Industry of Atlanta

• Main Author: Case, Kaitlin E
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2011
• Subjects: Feminist theory; Hegemonic forces; Gender; Class; Immigration; Globalization studies; Anthropology
• Online Access: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/48; http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=anthro_theses

This thesis explores the work experiences and life histories of a group of Latina migrant women who work in specific sectors of the service industry in Atlanta, Georgia. I focus on janitorial/custodial as well as domestic labor in order to confront the social issue of the continued devaluation and exploitation of feminized wage work. This ethnography reveals how education and English proficiency tie into how migrant labor is viewed in the United States specifically, and asks how Latina migrant women might be able to achieve labor legitimacy in the future. My findings are based on in-depth interviews that I collected from ten Latina migrant women who live and work in the Atlanta metro-area.