Government funded and initiated development policies and programs can be key drivers of both domestic and international migration, both in the United States and abroad. The goals and effects of such policies and programs vary depending on the target population. For ethnic minority women, recruitment into domestic and personal service labor is common. Because of the intimate nature of such work, it is often accompanied by training programs designed to prepare workers to meet the requirements of both the government and employers. However, little is known about how the programs achieve their goals, how they transform ethnic minority women into desirable employees, and how that transformation affects the women themselves, particularly given that employment in these sectors is prone to instability, unpredictability, and vulnerability. The anthropological research funded by this award is designed to fill this gap by following a cohort of such women through their migratory journeys, interactions with government officials, involvement with government funded programs, and labor in the care sector.
The research will be conducted in India by Brown University doctoral student Andrea L. Wright, under the supervision of Dr. Lina Fruzzetti. India is ideal for these research questions because, unlike the United States, all locations in the labor chain are in one country, which facilitates control of variables for data collection and analysis. The researcher will focus on women from the northeastern state of Manipur who migrate, with government encouragement and support, over 2000 miles south to the city of Bangalore for training and employment. Because of the violence and discrimination that such women have experienced in Bangalore, they present a particularly compelling research population. The researcher will monitor a selected group of women throughout the training course and into their post-training employment. She will collect data using a mixed methods approach, including: participant observation ethnography; semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of all stakeholders (government official, trainers, trainees, employees, industry representatives, non-governmental organizations, families) in both Manipur and Bangalore; focus group interviews; event analysis of relevant industry fairs; document analysis; and analysis of trainees' work diaries. The results of this research will contribute to social science theory of how and why workers of a specific type are created through targeted training. Results also will provide policy makers with information they need to design programs that serve the needs of those who are trained as well those who sponsor the training.
