The present of forgetting: diasporic identity and migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong

Against current privileging of diasporic identity as the (trans)migrants’ challenge to the normativity of national identity and belonging, this paper considers the case of contract migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong to explore the critical potential of diasporic identification in challenging hegemonic national discourses outside much-discussed European and American contexts. While acknowledging the transnational connections and linkages migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong maintain with their home communities, the paper argues the significance of attending to the simultaneous importance of forgetting in their own understanding and representation of their situation. In light of the common refrain of forgetting observed among these migrant women, the paper elucidates the politics of diasporic identification in their situation, especially the dependence of diasporic identification on consolidating national identity and allegiance through the mediation of gendered norms of family duties.