Agency at work: Bulgarian badanti migrant women in Italy

Abstract

This thesis reveals the manifestation of agency in the case of Bulgarian migrant women who work as caregivers in Italy. I examine the context in which their agency is exposed by focusing on the numerous insecurities which define their migrant lives on the one hand, and on the gender ideologies which inform and shape their living patterns on the other. These two major influences intersect and merge in creating spaces for women to act toward achieving their goals and pursuing their projects. Using Ortner’s concept of serious games, I argue that Bulgarian migrant women’s agency manifests within the system of patriarchy, which they help maintain despite their powerful position of breadwinners within the family. Based on five months of fieldwork in Italy and Bulgaria, this ethnography of agency demonstrates the crucial importance of context in determining post-socialist women’s choices and raises salient questions about social reproduction and transformation with regard to gender ideologies. With this thesis I contribute to understanding how agency manifests within the patriarchal order, specifically in the context of flux and instability, entering feminist debates on women’s agency as both reproductive and transformative. Furthermore, I offer ethnographic material on migrant female domestic workers in Italy, which will hopefully be useful in further investigations on this topic.