Moral Economy of Selling Hijab:An Analysis of Part-Time Economic Activities of Indonesian Muslim Migrant Workers in Taiwan

• Main Authors: CHUNG,YUN, 仲芸
• Other Authors: KUNG, I-CHUN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/96476t

碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 東南亞學系 === 106 === When Muslim migrant workers from Indonesia come to work in Taiwan, the first challenge they encounter with realizing religious practices is how to maintain a religious life similar to that in their homeland given the lack of distribution channels and product availability of hijabs in Taiwan as well as their Taiwanese employer’s passive attitude towards lending a hand. Consequently, in order to carry on their religious practices, Indonesian Muslim migrant workers reach out to trustworthy communities and channels to replenish their Islamic supplies. Among them, some migrant workers – with or without permission from their employers – have joined the business of selling hijabs and will be referred to as “moonlighting migrant workers” in this study. The moonlighting migrant collect non-operating income by selling hijabs; in the legal aspect, these beyond-the-permit commercial activities are a violation to the Taiwanese law; in the moral aspect, selling religious articles outside of Indonesia at higher prices warrants the controversy of exploiting fellow compatriots. However, this study has concluded that the main products sold by these moonlighting migrant workers are those pertaining to realizing religious practices of the customers as well as the moonlighting migrant workers themselves. Moreover, the execution of such economic activities incorporates personal interest, public benefits, and all the moral and economic principles of the Islamic doctrine. Hence, there is no worry for the aforementioned issues. This study aims to explore how the moonlighting migrant workers’ community resources, labor contents, labor conditions, and labor relations affect their entrepreneurship and business operation; the study also discusses how moonlighting migrant workers resort to implicit and explicit strategies at their work place – their employer’s home – to negotiate with their employer so as to advance their moonlighting business. Meanwhile, the study also offers an explanation to how these economic strategies centered around religious practice and mutual help between Indonesians not only benefit the moonlighting migrant workers themselves but also advance the interests of their customers as well as other competitors who are also moonlighting migrant workers; by doing so, the study hopes to illustrate the spirit of mutual help and moral economy demonstrated in the economic activities of Indonesian Muslim migrant workers selling hijab in Taiwan.