Joanna Herbert

Global cities at work : new migrant divisions of labour

List of tables List of figures List of plates List of acronyms Acknowledgements 1 Deregulation, migration and the new world of work 2 Global city labour markets and Londons new migrant division of labour 3 Londons low paid foreign-born workers 4 Living and remaking Londons ethnic and gender divisions 5 Tactics of survival amongst migrant workers in London 6 Relational lives: Migrants, London and the rest of the world 7 Remaking the city: Immigration and post-secular politics in London today 8 Just geographies of (im)migration Appendices References Index

From Coping Strategies to Tactics: London's Low‐Pay Economy and Migrant Labour

This article examines the means by which low-paid migrant workers survive in a rapidly changing and increasingly unequal labour market. In a departure from the coping strategies literature, it is argued that the difficulties migrant workers face in the London labour market reduces their ability to ‘strategize’. Instead, workers adopt a range of ‘tactics’ that enable them to ‘get by’, if only just, on a day-to-day basis. The article explores these tactics with reference to the connections between different workers’ experiences of the workplace, home and community, and demonstrates the role of national, ethnic and gender relations in shaping migrant workers’ experiences of the London labour market and of the city more widely.

Men on the move: narratives of migration and work among low-paid migrant men in London

The impact of migration on gender identities, norms and conventions has been predominantly understood from the perspective of female migrants. Far less attention has been paid to the potential that migration entails for the negotiation and reconstruction of male identities. Drawing on sixty-seven in-depth interviews with male migrants employed in low-paid work in London, this paper explores the reworking of male identities at different stages of ‘the migration project’, focusing particularly upon the reasons extended for migration and how these are shaped by gender ideologies in home countries and negotiation of life and work in London. The paper also draws attention to ways in which these re-negotiations are themselves cross-cut by ethnic, racial and class differences, so constructing a more nuanced picture of mobile men and male identities.

a migrant ethic of care? negotiating care and caring among migrant workers in London's low-pay economy

A care deficit is clearly evident in global cities such as London and is attributable to an ageing population, the increased employment of native-born women, prevalent gender ideologies that continue to exempt men from much reproductive work, as well as the failure of the state to provide viable alternatives. However, while it is now acknowledged that migrant women, and to a lesser extent, migrant men, step in to provide care in cities such as London, there is less research on how this shapes the nature, politics and ethics of care. Drawing upon empirical research with low-paid migrant workers employed as domiciliary care providers in London, this paper explores the emergence of a distinct migrant ethic of care that is critically shaped by the caring work that migrant women and men perform.

Oral histories of Ugandan Asians in Britain: gendered identities in the diaspora

This article draws on life stories with first-generation Ugandan Asians to explore the construction of their collective identities and to highlight the primacy of gender in this process. The article seeks to unpack the meanings configured around salient images in their narratives including the heroic male pioneer, the South Asian housewife and the South Asian woman bereft of her jewellery. These capture important moments in the expression of their collective history; from their fathers migration to East Africa, to their life in Uganda and their subsequent expulsion. It is argued that whilst the depiction of the male pioneer epitomised their sense of being successful migrants by surviving and transcending difficulties, the representations of women help to communicate the sudden and profound sense of loss Ugandan Asians felt as they were forced to flee Uganda and resettle in Britain. This sense of loss was multifaceted and was deeply felt by the male respondents. The images of women, particularly during the expulsion, served as a counterpoint to the mens narratives and are contested by the womens own personal stories, which reveal the range of experiences.