Global "little brown" women labor: Filipina workers in Turkey

ABSTRACT GLOBAL "LITTLE BROWN" WOMEN LABOR: FILIPINA WORKERS IN TURKEY MERVE ÇELTİKCİ Starting with the most common research question "Why are Filipinas being nanny abroad even once in their lifetime?" it is examined in this master's thesis whether being nanny has a gendered nature both global and national discourse and what it means for Filipinas who migrate. In this context, this thesis focuses on the multiple reasons behind women's migration which motivate them to migrate, the movement that these migration processes offer to the multiple reasons and destinations of these women, their expectations from the movements and dreams from the pasts, whether they have found what they were searching for in life, especially within the context of colonial histories of the Philippines. In the Philippines, for contemporary governments OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) are "new national heroes" and "foreign exchange heroines" as one of the Filipino national development strategies which constructed through the discourses and narratives. However, Filipinas are triple oppressed: first as a woman, second as a foreigner, third as an unqualified professional in domestic work. Certainly, the oppressions for these women are many. If so, when they face a globally gendered division of labor that sides against them, how do these women act with solidarity, socialize, resist, negotiate? Can migration be interpreted as a tradition which constructed through the colonial pasts and government development strategies? Therefore, this thesis follows these questions and tries to make analysis based on the frame of feminist theory and method and socio-cultural anthropology. Also, it locates the women's experiences of moving and alternative theories through these experiences the center of research for gender and migration studies. Key words: Service industry, Filipina workers, the colonial histories of the Philippines, Philippine development strategies, feminist theory, socio-cultural anthropology.