Pratiwi RetnaningdyahPhD student-Cultural StudiesThe University of Melbourne

Examines how and why literacy is central to the activism of IDWs

Focus: IDWs working in HK

Approximately 5 million Indonesian migrant workers (60% in domestic sector)

Receiving countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Gulf nations

A vital role in the household and overall economy in sending and receiving countries

Those in domestic sector:◦Live-in maids, nannies and aged carers

Gaonkar’s Alternative Modernities (1999)◦ Modernity is a plural form, not a single, universal, Eurocentric one

◦ Becoming modern is developing an attitude of questioning the present, instead of “accept(ing) oneself as one is the flux of the passing moment.”

◦ Tradition as part of trajectories to modernity, not an obstacle in the path of modernization

◦ Engagement in the public space, playing roles other than the ascribed one, as an element of modernity

IDWs as remittance heroes for their country and families◦ Considered heroes when it comes to money, but continuously discriminated by labour regulations

FDWs as “global cinderellas” (Lan, 2006)◦ Going global for upward social mobility, yet confined in private houses

◦ IDWs: submissive, obedient, stupid, less civilised, suited for elderly and patient care

◦ Filipina DWs: smart, educated, civilised, yet arrogant, lazy, aggressive and disobedient, suited for child care

(Cheng, 2004; Loveband, 2006; Lan, 2006; Yeoh, 2009)

various self-empowering strategies to negotiate space and reconstruct their identity◦ Gossiping behind employer’s back (Ueno, 2009)◦ Use of mobile phones (Lan, 2006; Ueno, 2009)◦ Taking up a new identity: ‘DH’ instead of domestic helper (Ueno, 2009)

buruh migran Indonesia/BMI (migrant workers) instead of Tenaga Kerja Wanita/TKW (female workers)

strategy under study : literacy practices

A sociocultural dimension of literacy “The general cultural ways of utilising written language which people draw upon in their lives”

What people do with literacy Involving values, feelings, attitudes, and social relationships

(Barton and Hamilton, 2000)

Creative writing in the forms of novels, short stories, poems, essays and publications in mass media

Cybercommunities:◦ Blogging:◦ http://babungeblog.blogspot.com◦ Citizen journalism◦ Social media network

Practice of suitcase libraries

• Mobile libraries: Perpustakaan lesehan or perpustakaan koper

• The books displayed in an open suitcase and a plastic mat.

• IDWs lend and borrow books at outdoor public spheres during their days-off (mainly on Sundays).

• About 20 in Causeway Bay area• Location: under the bridge, under the elevator, on the sidewalk, vacant space in the park, or in front of a store around Causeway Bay area.

• The administrators sit on a mat behind the suitcase, occasionally calling passer-by to come over and take a look at the book collection.

Fieldwork in Hong Kong◦ Interviews with administrators and costomers

◦ Participant observation

Textual analysis◦ Writings by IDWs on the practice of suitcase libraries

Suitcase libraries as Thirdspace (space of resistance and appropriation)

Suitcase libraries to construct collective identity as smart and literate figures

Suitcase libraries as a literacy hub that enables community empowerment to take place

• Space of resistance and engagement, of creative alternative to the social order

• Privatizing public sphere = privacy and freedom as enjoyed only in public space

• IDWs being relatively invisible on weekdays, mobility limited in their workspace (employers’ home)

• Victoria Park and Causeway Bay area = Javanese village on Sundays

Not a kind of invasion, but a productive utilisation of vacant space

“There’s no reason for them (suitcase libraries) to waste idle space at road sides.”

(Kompasiana post by Cuzzy, an IDW blogger)

“There’s no such thing as BAI’s territory. The way it works it first come, first gaining space. So we have to start early to get the space for book display…But there’s always someone who lends his/her hand to help…Bu Ngaipah always comes early to lay the plastic mat.”

(Lintang, administrator of Bintang Al-Ikhlas library)

Secondspace: no trade-related activities◦ Immigration officers’ surveillance to ensure IDWs abide to labour regulation

Book-selling as illegal, but done as part of suitcase libraries

Done out of da’wah (spreading the message of Islam) and charity

Use of social media as virtual space for book-selling (self-regulation)

“As for selling stuff, we have to be smart so that we don’t get problems…Put books for sale under the ones for borrowing. Never the other way around. Insha Allah (God wills) it will be safe. As long as your intention is for the community and to do ibadah (good deeds), God will protect you.

(Lintang, BAI’s administrator)

“They may just ask two or three questions. And they may be new officers or those who have just seen us for the first time. Hahaha…Ever since we operated, the police who pass in front of our spot are doing fine.”

(Ita, Pandu Pustaka’s administrator)

“There’s something special about Hong Kong government. They know that libraries and organisations are our space to get knowledge, so they let us do that.”

(Bayu Insani in her book, TKW Menulis)

Literacy and Identity

Positional identity (based on social status)

cultural artefacts

Figurative identity (shaped by ones’ narratives)

Cultural artefacts in the figured world of literacy• Books, ideas about use of books

Bartlett and Holland, 2002)

Suitcase libraries as a catalyst for changes in IDWs’ lives◦ Freedom to cast off the social baggage associated with IDWs’ identities

Reason to establish suitcase libraries◦ To foster reading habit for personal advancement

Motivation of involvement for administrators◦ To be a new person with a new role (manager) = sense of power

◦ To be a more knowledgeable person◦ To be a more community-oriented person

• Customers’ perception– Reading seen as a more productive way of spending pastime

– Reading as transforming them to become more knowledgeable people

• Books as having instrumental purposes (books in high demand)– Fiction for private leisure– Books on spirituality and personality for sense-making

– How-to books (entrepreneurships) for organising life

• Space to promote works by IDW writers• Space for creative writing project as funded by donation (volunteerism)

• Space for other literacy events– Pandu Pustaka: Hosting my discussion with IDW bloggers

– BAI: hosting short lecture on news report writing, attended by writers, bloggers, journalists (15 people)

– Pandu: holding a short-story telling competition in public

• Shared mission of literacy promotion for community empowerment– By broadening of spectrum from mere book borrowing to literacy hub

• Evidence of IDWs’ self-regulation to initiate change for future investment

• A process of identity transformation – From dumb and passive to smart and creative figures