How Does the Color Line Contribute to the Exploitation and Exclusion of African Migrant Domestic Workers in Lebanon

Abstract

This thesis rests on the assumption that the racial hierarchization and differentiation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon often result in their exploitation and exclusion under the kafala sponsorship system. Kafala, as the primary legal framework governing migrant domestic workers, creates a power dynamic which employers often exploit. The legality of migrant domestic workers depends on their employers, which completely absolves the state of its responsibility. Moreover, due to the nature of their work, domestic workers are explicitly excluded from the protection and provisions enjoyed by other workers. They, thus, are positioned at the bottom of the hierarchy as the last category of workers. The states' exclusion of migrant domestic workers and the delegation of domestic labour regulation to private recruitment agencies encourage dehumanizing recruitment practices.

Using a qualitative content analysis methodology, I examine the accounts of migrant domestic workers published in the Lebanese Daily Star and explore how the color line operates in the lives of African migrant domestic workers. By employing the framework of racial and classical capitalism, I locate kafala within the global structures that exploit migrant domestic workers from less developed countries. In doing so, I demonstrate how the kafala system's racialised labour practices are a microcosm of the larger historical processes of colonialism, slavery, and other forms of servitude.