Anna Romina Guevarra
ASA 2006
added export values of flexibility, cooperativeness, and natural caregiving, TLC (tender loving
care) abilities. Framed within a culturally-essentialist logic, labor brokers guarantee that such
values are inherent to the culture so that employers are purchasing a unique Filipina labor power
which potentially offers a problem-free and cost-effective labor process. Meanwhile, I argue that
such discursive constructions can also have the effect of potentially creating exploitative work
conditions within which Filipina nurses may find themselves.
Therefore, a critical question is how do Filipina nurses view themselves? How do they
internalize these discursive constructions? In responding to these questions, I draw from
Foucault’s (1991) conceptualization of governmentality, the “art of government” as a frame
through which to examine how discursive constructions, as social processes which are designed
at ruling individuals by affecting their conduct. In this paper, I analyze the ways in which
Filipina nurses respond to or internalize the discourse of women’s “productive femininity”
(Salzinger 2003) that is mobilized by the employment agencies and the State. As the above
quotations I presented of Pia and Michelle suggested, their internalization of these discursive
constructions and competitive advantage as workers are rooted in professional aspirations and
most importantly, the material realities of economic survival insofar as this employment is their
means to a “better” livelihood. Thus, I argue that while these discursive constructions have a
potential for creating exploitative working conditions, these nurses draw from them as a source
of cultural capital (Bourdieu 1980/1990; 1984) and as a survival strategy in an intimidating work
environment as well as their determination to leave the Philippines in pursuit of self-betterment
and most importantly, economic and material prosperity. Their seeming willingness to embody
and not thwart such discursive constructions is not necessarily a sign of passivity or false
consciousness but rather, a pragmatic response to their material realities.
The paper is organized as follows: First, I provide a brief background of the current
nurse shortage in the U.S. and the recruitment of nurses from the Philippines, followed by a
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Convention