Identity and Self-Perception Among Domestic Workers in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

This thesis analyses identity and self-perception among domestic workers in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, by addressing three key research questions: In what ways has carrying out paid domestic work affected domestic workers’ own sense of identity in Playa del Carmen? What does the public / private divide mean for participants’ construction of identity? How do relationships come into play in terms of construction of self among domestic workers? By focusing on how domestic workers construct and interpret their own identity, I engage with the growing body of research on paid domestic work in Mexico in a unique way, arguing that exploring domestic workers’ sense of identity is an important political endeavour. This thesis also builds on earlier feminist research on paid domestic work in Mexico by taking an explicitly feminist post-colonial and feminist standpoint approach; both of which allow for further emphasis on, and exploration of, the personhood of domestic workers. I found that the identities of domestic workers in my sample of one male and seven female participants were multi-layered, dynamic and complex. The age at which participants began doing paid domestic work, and relatedly the extent of agency and level of control they were able to exert over their experience of paid domestic work, were key factors in how far participants felt they could carve out a meaningful sense of identity through doing paid domestic work.