This book documents the discrimination, abuse and exploitation experienced by domestic migrant workers or ‘foreign domestic helpers’ (henceforth FDHs) in Hong Kong, conveyed through discourse analysis of their powerfully affecting stories of repression, fear, and powerlessness. These stories are ‘unsettling—emotionally, ethically and morally’, not least because they expose terrible suffering and provide insight into what Ladegaard describes as ‘the unfathomable capacity for evil that human beings possess’ (ix), a strong claim that is vigorously argued and persuasively supported by the analyses throughout the book.
Chapter 1 provides an overview of domestic migrant-worker research, and a number of rationales for the study, including its contribution to sociolinguistic research on identity construction and the language of trauma narratives. Ladegaard also outlines how the book contributes to sociolinguistic theory, claiming that the narrative analysis ‘provides a critique of identity research’ by demonstrating that for FDHs ‘there is no choice, visibility, recognition or privilege: for them identities are enforced’ (13). He suggests that this claim is only contentious when judged through privileged western eyes, and the analyses throughout the book effectively support this position. He also sees the research contributing to the study of laughter and crying in narrative analysis, as well as ‘to our thinking about social activism research in sociolinguistics’ (15).
Chapter 2 describes the database and research methodologies. The study draws on more than ninety hours of material from sharing sessions recorded in a church shelter, involving more than 300 Indonesian and Filipina FDHs. The discussion in this chapter (as elsewhere) provides evidence of considerable sensitivity to and awareness of the complex ethical issues involved in collecting such data, as well as addressing issues of authenticity. Relevant theoretical frameworks are then outlined, including social constructionism, social identity theory, discursive psychology, indexicality, life stories, and narrative therapy. Each is clearly related to Ladegaard's research goals and their significance is evaluated in a discussion that demonstrates Ladegaard's control of relevant theoretical concepts.
Chapters 3 to 7 provide a detailed discourse analysis of narrative excerpts selected to illuminate salient themes in the FDH's stories and Ladegaard draws throughout on the wider research literature to support his interpretations. Chapter 3 focusses on discourses of dependence and inferiority, analysing distressing accounts of verbal and physical abuse, along with compelling evidence that poverty, debt, and the hope of creating a better life for their children are the reasons why FDHs continue to work in Hong Kong despite such treatment. The analysis identifies a number of co-constructed features of the narratives recounted between the women, as well as the negotiation of different aspects of social identity, including some evidence of resistant discourses.
Chapter 4 examines narratives of sacrifice, reflecting on the centrality of religious faith as an important part of the migrant women's identity. The analyses provide valuable insights into how the FDHs cope with their situation, not only through their faith and their roles as mothers ‘as salient identity positions’ (65), but also interestingly by stereotyping their employers in terms of racial and cultural identity: ‘the discursive accomplishment of intergroup differentiation… works as a defensive mechanism’ (64). Their preferred term helper is one important indication of how they construct themselves as ‘servants to God who are in Hong Kong to help their families and their employers’ (72).
The fifth chapter focusses on the heartbreak that the women experience in leaving their children, in particular. Subtitled ‘Unfaithful husbands and absent mothers’, the narratives in this chapter document their ‘agonising dilemma’: ‘in order to provide for their children, migrant women have to give them up’ (85). The analysis testifies to the women's pain over this deprivation, their awareness of their husbands’ infidelities, their concern about how the money they send back is being spent, and their vulnerability to demands for sexual services by employers. The chapter also provides an interesting analysis of the related functions and meanings of laughter and crying in FDH narratives involving painful self-revelation (‘laughter and crying are used as a means to deal with adversity without being destroyed by it’, p. 89), as well as a discussion of culturally different attitudes to crying.
Chapter 6 is the most harrowing chapter in this challenging book. Entitled ‘Trauma narratives: The destruction of “self” ’, the analysis examines excerpts that document the ‘unspeakable’ denigration and humiliation that some FDHs are subject to (91). Ladegaard notes there is relatively little previous discourse analysis of trauma narratives, unsurprisingly, since gathering the data involves gaining the trust of the narrators as well as careful negotiation of complex and challenging ethical issues. Following a careful definition of the criteria that characterise a trauma narrative, he analyses excerpts reporting horrific accounts of near starvation, isolation, and physical assault. Though the chapter covers a number of themes, the analysis of each is very similar in terms of linguistic and paralinguistic features (including direct reported speech and repetition for emphasis), and psychological interpretation. In addition, Ladegaard makes a strong case for crying as ‘the language that transcends the traumatic gap’ (92), and argues for the therapeutic value of sharing trauma narratives.
Discourses of resistance, agency, and peer support are documented in chapter 7, which begins with an account of blatantly racist talk about FDHs as an integral component of ideology in Hong Kong society (119), and includes a perceptive discussion of how stereotypes are communicated and permeate a society (123–24). Depressingly, this chapter documents how FDHs who resist and ‘put up a fight’ rarely actually gain anything but a moral victory (132). And though Ladegaard argues that the narratives show that ‘it is possible to refuse the positioning forced upon the individual by society’ (140), this seems a disheartening conclusion in the absence of material social justice.
Chapter 8 describes independent evidence corroborating and supporting the truthfulness of the FDH narratives, including surveys by the Mission for Migrant Workers (NGO) and Amnesty International. Ladegaard also provides a detailed analysis of the lexical and rhetorical choices characterising 100 articles in two major Hong Kong English-language newspapers' media reports in order capture the sociocultural and ideological context in which the FDH's stories were told. These reports, he suggests, serve to ‘legitimise’ the way FDH narratives are dismissed as exaggerated or untrue, as well as discursively accomplishing the ‘moral exclusion’, depersonalisation, and even dehumanisation of the FDHs (159–60). This chapter also includes a perceptive discussion of ‘elite racism’ (150).
Adopting a reflective/reflexive approach, chapter 9 focusses on the relationship between the researcher and the women at the shelter. Ladegaard provides a convincingly honest analysis of his role and responsibilities as a committed, humane applied sociolinguist. Characterising the roles of researcher, volunteer, and activist as complementary, he examines issues of ethics, advocacy, and empowerment in relation to his work at the shelter. The chapter provides a moving analysis of his motivation and his role as a witness, a responsibility that he says has ‘caused me agony, frustration and, at times, utter despair’ (169). As a Christian volunteer, he considers the role of religious language when there is nothing else optimistic to offer the women (179). More usefully (from my perspective), the final section outlines Hans-Georg Gadamer's concept of ‘praxis’ (action) and how it can be applied to research with FDHs (179–81).
The concluding chapter summarises the findings, emphasises the interdisciplinary nature of the analyses, and stresses the link between scholarship and social activism. Ladegaard revisits the crucial issue of the truthfulness of the narratives, providing evidence to support their veracity. FDH abuse is, he says ‘an inconvenient truth that leads to withdrawal or denial [by the audience], or to the discursive construction of self-protective counter-narratives or… to a culture of indifference’ (184). He challenges feminist claims that FDHs are exploited and abused because they are women. Using a perhaps unfortunate metaphor, he argues that such feminist writers are ‘barking up the wrong tree’ since his analysis clearly demonstrates that abusive employers are predominantly women. He reports exceptions painstakingly, but stands by the generalisation and provides an insightful analysis of the reasons why female Chinese employers become abusive (197–98).
Some have questioned the appropriateness of a white western male recording stories of abuse of Filipina and Indonesian women, but this research is suffused with the compassion of one human being for desperate others to whom he has devoted a great deal of time, energy, and practical help. Moreover, there is no evidence that Ladegaard's gender proved problematic to those to whom he provided a conduit so that their stories could reach a wider audience, both academic, and in the wider community, including policy makers and the media. He ends with the caveat that the women he studied were seeking help because of abuse or premature contract termination, so they may not be typical, and points out that stories about good employers need to be researched.
There is a good deal of repetition throughout the book, perhaps reflecting the fact that several chapters are based on articles that have been published in academic journals, but also that chapters approach the same tragic issues from different perspectives. While not a problem in itself, since bringing together material in a coherent sustained account in book form is very valuable, the resulting repetition of core points is sometimes irritating if you read the book straight through. In addition, the assertion that the research is ‘for’ and ‘with’ FDHs (which it demonstrably is) is accompanied in several places by the less acceptable preposition ‘on’ (e.g. p. 179). Overall, however, this book makes an important contribution to sociolinguistic research in the areas of gender, ethnicity, class, and identity. It is a disturbing account of the exploitation of women by women, supported by detailed discourse analysis of narrative excerpts documenting the plight of the migrant women. Scholars and experts in many different disciplines will benefit from reading it.
