“In Case You Can Speak Finnish, There’s No Problem”: 'Reconstructing problematic identity-positions in migrant care workers’ organisational discourse'

Nordic Journal of Migration Research

Antero Olakivi¹ 

[1] Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki;

关键词: migrants;    discrimination;    care work;    interviews;    positioning;   

DOI  :  10.2478/v10202-012-0019-3

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

With a discourse-analytical approach to interviews conducted in Helsinki, this article examines how foreign-born care workers make sense of their work-related identities and the structural conditions they inhabit. The analysis demonstrates how, in the interviews, “a migrant care worker” was easily recognised as an identity-position problematic-by-default. Nevertheless, the interviewees were also able to utilise multiple different, more particular identity-positions related to their migrant histories (e.g. “a Finnish speaking migrant”, “a migrant with the right attitude”). However, partly due to these particularisations, and unintentionally, potential problems in work-place relations (e.g. discrimination) came recognised as private matters dependent on particular individual characteristics.

【 授权许可】

Unknown