1887
image of “We are workers, we are not slaves”

Abstract

Abstract

We argue that grassroots participation in multilateral negotiations over norm-setting is important because grassroots discourses differ from those of multilateral organizations. To compare the two, we use sociolinguistic theories that link embodied experience, ideology and discourse. We analyze texts about domestic work from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and a grassroots organization of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB). Findings show that AMCB’s commitment to grassroots migrants, and the embodied experiences of its members and leaders, enables their discourses on “decent work for domestic workers” to be more intersectional, more substantive and more critical than the discourses of the ILO. This case illustrates that even when the overarching norms appear to be the ‘same’, the discourses of grassroots and multilateral organizations still offer fundamentally different images of what constitutes “decent work” and what is required to achieve it.

Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.24257.cat
2025-11-25
2025-12-04
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/10.1075/jlp.24257.cat/jlp.24257.cat.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.24257.cat&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Acharya, Amitav
    2004 “How Ideas Spread: Whose Norms Matter? Norm Localization and Institutional Change in Asian Regionalism.” International Organization, (): –. 10.1017/S0020818304582024
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818304582024 [Google Scholar]
  2. Austin, J. L.
    1975How to do Things with Words. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245537.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245537.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  3. Baker, Paul, Costas Gabrielatos, Majid Khosravinik, Michał Krzyżanowski, Tony McEnery, and Ruth Wodak
    2008 “A Useful Methodological Synergy? Combining Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistics to Examine Discourses of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK Press.” Discourse & Society, (): –. 10.1177/0957926508088962
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926508088962 [Google Scholar]
  4. Balabanova, Ekaterina and Alex Balch
    2020 “Norm Destruction, Norm Resilience: The Media and Refugee Protection in the UK and Hungary during Europe’s ‘Migrant Crisis’.” Journal of Language and Politics, (): –. 10.1075/jlp.19055.bal
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19055.bal [Google Scholar]
  5. Baltag, Dorina and Isabell Burmester
    2022 “Quo vadis, Moldova? The Role of Social and Political Elites in the Norm Internalization Process.” Democratization, (): –. 10.1080/13510347.2021.1963237
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2021.1963237 [Google Scholar]
  6. Batliwala, Srilatha
    2002 “Grassroots Movements as Transnational Actors: Implications for Global Civil Society.” Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, : –. 10.1023/A:1022014127214
    https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022014127214 [Google Scholar]
  7. Bélanger-Vincent, Ariane
    2024 “The Power of Old Ideas Newly Expressed: Building Legitimacy and the New Discourse of Humanitarian Intervention.” Journal of Language and Politics.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Blommaert, Jan
    2008 “Bernstein and Poetics Revisited: Voice, Globalization and Education.” Discourse & Society, (): –. 10.1177/0957926508089938
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926508089938 [Google Scholar]
  9. Bourdieu, Pierre
    1991Language and Symbolic Power. Harvard University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Campbell, Catherine and Zodwa Mzaidume
    2001 “Grassroots Participation, Peer Education, and HIV Prevention by Sex Workers in South Africa.” American Journal of Public Health, (): –. 10.2105/AJPH.91.12.1978
    https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.91.12.1978 [Google Scholar]
  11. Canagarajah, Suresh
    2023 “A Decolonial Crip Linguistics. Applied Linguistics, (): –. 10.1093/applin/amac042
    https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amac042 [Google Scholar]
  12. Constable, Nicole
    2009 Migrant Workers and the Many States of Protest in Hong Kong.” Critical Asian Studies, (): –. 10.1080/14672710802631202
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14672710802631202 [Google Scholar]
  13. Crenshaw, Kimberlé
    1989 “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum, : .
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Cummings, Sarah, Barbara Regeer, Leah De Haan, Marjolein Zweekhorst, and Joske Bunders
    2018 “Critical Discourse Analysis of Perspectives on Knowledge and the Knowledge Society within the Sustainable Development Goals.” Development Policy Review, (): –. 10.1111/dpr.12296
    https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12296 [Google Scholar]
  15. Dunford, Robin
    (2017) “Peasant Activism and the Rise of Food Sovereignty: Decolonising and Democratising Norm Diffusion?” European Journal of International Relations, (): –. 10.1177/1354066115614382
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066115614382 [Google Scholar]
  16. Edwards, Michael, and John Gaventa
    eds. 2014Global Citizen Action. Routledge. 10.4324/9781315071916
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315071916 [Google Scholar]
  17. Fairclough, Norman
    1992Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. 2003Analyzing Discourse. Routledge. 10.4324/9780203697078
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203697078 [Google Scholar]
  19. Fish, Jennifer N., and Moriah Shumpert
    2017 “The Grassroots-Global Dialectic: International Policy as an Anchor for Domestic Worker Organizing.” InGender, Migration, and the Work of Care: A Multi-Scalar Approach to the Pacific Rim, edited bySonya Michel and Ito Peng. Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1007/978‑3‑319‑55086‑2_10
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55086-2_10 [Google Scholar]
  20. Foucault, Michel
    1984 “The Order of Discourse.” InLanguage and Politics, edited byMichael Shapiro. Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Fox, Jonathan A., and L. David Brown
    eds. 1998The Struggle for Accountability: The World Bank, NGOs, and Grassroots Movements. MIT Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Fredman, Sandra
    2016 “Substantive Equality Revisited.” International Journal of Constitutional Law, (): –. 10.1093/icon/mow043
    https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/mow043 [Google Scholar]
  23. Ganesh, Shiv, and Heather Zoller
    2012 “Dialogue, Activism, and Democratic Social Change.” Communication Theory, : –. 10.1111/j.1468‑2885.2011.01396.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2011.01396.x [Google Scholar]
  24. Gibbings, Sheri Lynn
    2011 “No Angry Women at the United Nations: Political Dreams and the Cultural Politics of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, (): –. 10.1080/14616742.2011.611660
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2011.611660 [Google Scholar]
  25. Gilardi, Fabrizio
    2012 “Transnational Diffusion: Norms, Ideas, and Policies.” InHandbook of International Relations, edited byWalter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse and Beth A. Simmons. Sage.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Hastings, Anette
    1999 “Analysing Power Relations in Partnerships: Is There a Role for Discourse Analysis?” Urban Studies, (): –. 10.1080/0042098993754
    https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098993754 [Google Scholar]
  27. Hsia, Hsiao-Chuan
    2009 “The Making of a Transnational Grassroots Migrant Movement: A Case Study of Hong Kong’s Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body.” Critical Asian Studies, (): –. 10.1080/14672710802631186
    https://doi.org/10.1080/14672710802631186 [Google Scholar]
  28. Hughes, Jessica M. F.
    2018 Progressing Positive Discourse Analysis and/in Critical Discourse Studies: reconstructing resistance through progressive discourse analysis, Review of Communication, (): –, 10.1080/15358593.2018.1479880
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593.2018.1479880 [Google Scholar]
  29. Karimzad, Farzad, and Lydia Catedral
    2022 “Chronotopic Resolution, Embodied Subjectivity, and Collective Learning: A Sociolinguistic Theory of Survival.” Language, Culture and Society, (): –. 10.1075/lcs.22005.kar
    https://doi.org/10.1075/lcs.22005.kar [Google Scholar]
  30. Krzyżanowski, Michał
    2018 “Discursive Shifts in Ethno-Nationalist Politics: On Politicization and Mediatization of the “Refugee Crisis” in Poland.” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, (): –. 10.1080/15562948.2017.1317897
    https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2017.1317897 [Google Scholar]
  31. Ladegaard, Hans J.
    2016The Discourse of Powerlessness and Repression: Life Stories of Domestic Migrant Workers in Hong Kong. Routledge. 10.4324/9781315636597
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315636597 [Google Scholar]
  32. Lai, Francisca Yuenki
    2018 “Migrant and Lesbian Activism in Hong Kong: A Critical Review of Grassroots Politics.” Asian Anthropology, (): –. 10.1080/1683478X.2018.1461053
    https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2018.1461053 [Google Scholar]
  33. Lee, Eunjeong, and Sinfree Makoni
    2022 “Sociolinguistic Protests for Decolonial Future Making: Toward Centering Languaging in the ‘Streets’.” Bandung, (): –. 10.1163/21983534‑09010012
    https://doi.org/10.1163/21983534-09010012 [Google Scholar]
  34. Lorente, Beatriz P.
    2018Scripts of Servitude: Language, Labor Migration and Transnational Domestic Work. Multilingual Matters.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Louis, Marieke, and Lucile Maertens
    2021Why International Organizations Hate Politics: Depoliticizing the World. Taylor & Francis. 10.4324/9780429466984
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429466984 [Google Scholar]
  36. Matejak, Dora
    2024 “Shaping Gender Policies at the COPs: A Critical Discourse Analysis.” Journal of Language and Politics. Online First. 10.1075/jlp.22193.mat
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22193.mat [Google Scholar]
  37. Mission for Migrant Workers
    Mission for Migrant Workers 2021 “Between a Toilet Bowl and a Wall: The Continuing Problem of Unsuitable Accommodations of Migrant Domestic Workers under Mandatory Live-In Arrangements.” https://www.migrants.net/researches
  38. Montoya, Celeste
    2013From Global to Grassroots: The European Union, Transnational Advocacy, and Combating Violence Against Women. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199927197.001.0001
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199927197.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  39. Nadelmann, Ethan A.
    1990 “Global Prohibition Regimes: The Evolution of Norms in International Society.” International Organization, (): –. 10.1017/S0020818300035384
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300035384 [Google Scholar]
  40. Pape, Karin
    2016 “ILO Convention C189 — A Good Start for the Protection of Domestic Workers: An Insider’s View.” Progress in Development Studies, (): –. 10.1177/1464993415623151
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1464993415623151 [Google Scholar]
  41. Poynton, Cate, and Alison Lee
    2011 “Affect-ing Discourse: Towards an Embodied Discourse Analytics.” Social Semiotics, (): –. 10.1080/10350330.2011.578799
    https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2011.578799 [Google Scholar]
  42. Roth-Gordon, Jenifer
    2020 “Situating Discourse Analysis in Ethnographic and Sociopolitical Context.” InThe Cambridge Handbook of Discourse Studies, edited byAnna De Fina and Alexandra Georgakopoulou. Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781108348195.003
    https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348195.003 [Google Scholar]
  43. Rodriguez, Robyn M.
    2013 “Beyond Citizenship: Emergent Forms of Political Subjectivity Amongst Migrants.” Identities, (): –. 10.1080/1070289X.2013.854720
    https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2013.854720 [Google Scholar]
  44. Romano, Sarah T.
    2019 “Transforming Participation in Water Governance: The Multisectoral Alliances of Rural Water Committees and NGOs in Nicaragua.” International Journal of Water Resources Development, (): –. 10.1080/07900627.2017.1363722
    https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2017.1363722 [Google Scholar]
  45. Rother, Stefan
    2022Global Migration Governance from Below: Actors, Spaces, Discourses. Springer Nature. 10.1007/978‑3‑031‑06984‑0
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06984-0 [Google Scholar]
  46. Smith, Ben
    2016 “Intersectional Discrimination and Substantive Equality: A Comparative and Theoretical Perspective.” The Equal Rights Review, (): –.
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Svenson, Nanette
    2016 “The United Nations, International Higher Education, and Knowledge Diplomacy.” International Higher Education, : –. 10.6017/ihe.2016.84.9114
    https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2016.84.9114 [Google Scholar]
  48. Uvin, Peter
    1995 “Fighting Hunger at the Grassroots: Paths to Scaling Up.” World Development, (): –. 10.1016/0305‑750X(95)00028‑B
    https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(95)00028-B [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.24257.cat
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/jlp.24257.cat
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: international norms ; domestic work ; grassroots organizations ; migrant workers ; discourse
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error