Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2021. Unfree: Migrant Domestic Work in Arab States. Stanford University Press: Stanford, California. pp. 232.
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Author | Canan Uçar |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12981 |
270
|
International Migration. 2022;60:270–272.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 21 Janu ary 2022
|
Accepted: 25 Janua ry 2022
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12981
BOOK REVIEW
Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2021. Unfree: Migrant
Domestic Work in Arab States. Stanford
University Press: Stanford, California. pp. 232.
Rhacel Salazar Pa rrenas’ book , entitled Unfree: Migrant Domestic Work in Arab States, explores unfree labour by
focusing o n the divers e labour exp eriences and conditions of migrant domest ic workers fro m the Philipp ines in
the United Arab Emirates. The book addre sses the experience of unfreedom under the kafala system (employment
sponsorship system) which favour s the arbitrar y authority of t he employers at th e expense of domes tic workers
thanks to the absen ce of labour standards for these wo rkers in the households of the UAE. It ethnogra phically
chases up the “mig rant domestic worker s’ process of subjectif ication as unfree pers ons” (p. 161) while presenting
an account of how a wide ran ge of stakeholder s from receiving and sending st ates to recruitme nt agencies, em-
ployers and non- governmental organizations govern and discipline the migrant domestic workers’ unfreedom, and
“how they accordin gly respond to their governa nce” (p. 162).
In the introductory chapter, the author submit s theoretica l and concep tual discussions on freedom and un-
freedom. Acco rding to Parreñas, Mar xian and liberal exp lanations of freedom a nd unfreedom have shor tcomings
to analyse the variati ons in employer behaviour towards the migr ant domestic workers. She the oretically grounds
the republican notion of unfreedom which is defined as “being subject to the arbitrary power of another” (p. 12).
Based on the republic an conceptualization of unfree dom, the book paves the way for understa nding a wide range
of experien ces and conditions of migrant domest ic workers in the UAE. This study, th erefore, contributes to the
literature in cert ain ways. It both acknowledges the positive ex periences of domestic workers in the kafala sys tem
and includes them in the analysis by complica ting the story of exploitation unlike the previous studi es on domestic
work in the region .
Chapter 1 describes the le gal process through w hich migrant domestic workers are infantilized in the UAE.
Although t he receiving count ries have impleme nted protective me asures through t he passage of dome stic work
laws, memoranda of understanding signed with the sending countries and engaging in active management of mi-
gration, t he protection has limits when the kafala system comes into q uestion. These protective measure s taken
by rece iving state s, in a sense, restrain the arbitr ary auth ority of employers. However, for Parreñas, domestic
workers are still exposed to the arbitrary authority of employers and still unfree under the kafala because, based
on her robust ethnogr aphy, the protec tionist laws, in practice, to a limite d extent inter fere in th e kafala system
which create s a legal paradox for employers of d omestic workers. Therefore, there appears an “incons istency of
labor standards from one household to the next” (p. 70) because of the arbitrary authority that the kafala grants
to the emp loyers. In other w ords, the behavio urs of employers t owards the domest ic workers regardi ng day off,
minimum wage, food consumption, leisure time and so on enormousl y vary. The book depicts the a bsence of la-
bour standa rds in domestic work that le ads to the emergence of three cu ltures of domestic work whi ch are listed
as “cultures of dehumanization , infantilization, and recognition of the humanit y of domestic workers” (p. 150). This
categorizatio n enables the author to defy the literature which reduces t he domestic wor k to structur al violence
and slaver y. Against th e scholars w ho mostly d o not take i nto account the protectionist laws or mech anisms as
a n otable f actor tha t can refrain the e mployers f rom behavi ng on their arbitrary authority towards domestic
© 2022 The Auth or. International Migr ation © 2022 IOM
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeUnlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations