TY - JOUR

T1 - Ambivalent intermediaries

T2 - social networks in migrant Filipina domestic work in London

AU - Dağdelen, Buse Özüm

PY - 2025/8/12

Y1 - 2025/8/12

N2 - This article examines how Filipina domestic workers in London mobilise informal social networks and migrant intermediaries to navigate precarious employment and legal constraints. Based on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation, the study introduces the concept of ambivalent intermediaries – actors who provide critical support while simultaneously reproducing vulnerability. Drawing on feminist ethics of care and the literature on migrant infrastructures, the article theorises ambivalence as a structured condition shaped by moral obligations, emotional reciprocity, and structural exclusion. Rather than framing intermediaries as either exploitative brokers or altruistic helpers, the study shows how Filipina domestic workers themselves become intermediary figures, sustaining mutual aid under hostile migration regimes. The article contributes to scholarship on migrant agency by highlighting how informal infrastructures enable both resistance and dependence within everyday life. It calls for a rethinking of migration governance narratives that criminalise solidarity and informal support networks among migrants.

AB - This article examines how Filipina domestic workers in London mobilise informal social networks and migrant intermediaries to navigate precarious employment and legal constraints. Based on in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation, the study introduces the concept of ambivalent intermediaries – actors who provide critical support while simultaneously reproducing vulnerability. Drawing on feminist ethics of care and the literature on migrant infrastructures, the article theorises ambivalence as a structured condition shaped by moral obligations, emotional reciprocity, and structural exclusion. Rather than framing intermediaries as either exploitative brokers or altruistic helpers, the study shows how Filipina domestic workers themselves become intermediary figures, sustaining mutual aid under hostile migration regimes. The article contributes to scholarship on migrant agency by highlighting how informal infrastructures enable both resistance and dependence within everyday life. It calls for a rethinking of migration governance narratives that criminalise solidarity and informal support networks among migrants.

U2 - 10.1080/1369183X.2025.2545429

DO - 10.1080/1369183X.2025.2545429

M3 - Journal article

JO - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

JF - Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

SN - 1369-183X

ER -