Doctoral Dissertation Research: Nationalism, Reproduction, and Labor Migration in Israel

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This dissertation research project investigates experiences regarding pregnancy and reproduction in two of the most populous, and markedly different, groups of migrant workers currently working in Tel Aviv, Israel: Nigerian and Filipina women. Given Israel's nationalist ideal of an ethno-religious Jewish majority, non-Jewish migrants' reproduction is perceived as an unbearable economic burden and a threat to Israeli national integrity. In this ethnographic context, this study--conducted in affiliation with the Physicians for Human Rights Open Clinic and the municipal Mesila Aid and Information Center--investigates individual women's experiences of pregnancy and parenthood through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and life history interviews. Findings will be anchored in a broader exploration of the microsocial, sociocultural, and political economic contexts of migrant women's lives in a foreign, and often unwelcoming, host society. This study broadens the global discussions regarding transnational labor migration through ethnographic and theoretical elaboration of migrant women's experiences of biological reproduction, and the dynamic interrelationship among nationalist sentiment, demographic speculation, administrative policies and constraints, and transnational labor migration flows.