Domestic work–affective labor: On feminization and the coloniality of labor

Abstract

Synopsis This paper argues for an understanding of domestic work as affective labor. It engages with the affective quality of reproductive labor by interrogating the organization of paid and unpaid domestic work in private households. Thus, while it attends to debates on emotional labor, its main focus is on the affective dimension of the social. It does so by focusing on reproductive labor, in particular, domestic work and developing a feminist critique of affective labor through the analysis of the cultural predication of feelings associated with and infused in domestic work. In this regard, the cultural predication prescribing the social meaning attached to domestic work will be explored within the framework of feminization and coloniality. Thus, domestic work will be discussed as affective labor surfacing at the juncture of feminization and coloniality. Following this argument, the article firstly engages with feminist analyses on reproductive labor, feminization and domestic work. Secondly, it looks at private households and affective labor. Thirdly, it examines the relationship between paid domestic work and migration regimes from the angle of the coloniality of labor. Using these insights, the article explores the sensorial corporeality of racialized affect negotiated in and around domestic work. It concludes by arguing for a conceptualization of domestic work as affective labor.