Researching Men in the Relationship between Gender, Migration and Domestic Work

Abstract

In this book, we bring together two separate but interrelated studies about the relationship between gender, migration and domestic work in the UK and the USA. A transnational comparative approach was not built into our respective research designs. Although we were aware of each others’ work, each project was conceived, planned and executed independently of the other. In the latter stages of research and analysis we realized that our transatlantic conversations generate additional insights both with respect to the substantive areas of men’s migration, work and care discussed throughout the book, and with regard to the research process — an issue taken up in this chapter. A close retrospective comparison of the two studies — grounded in different social, economic, and geopolitical contexts yet operating within similar neoliberal settings — offers a broader analytical outlook than each on its own. As a result, we carry out the discussion at two levels: at one, we reflexively engage with themes that emerged within and were distinct to each study; at the other, we pay attention to patterns of similarity and difference gleaned from the two cases.