Maid in America and Home

PBS

As we deconstructed “home,” I was reminded of Maid in America, a documentary that follows three domestic workers in Los Angeles. Prado’s (2005) film showcases how family, prosperity, and diligence varies from Telma, Judith, and Eva. Despite different nationalities, these women appear similar “Under Western Eyes.” Mohanty explains they are perceived as third-world women, oppressed and restricted to following identifiers: ignorant, uneducated, domestic, poor, and family-oriented (1995, p. 261). All are English-language learners confined to the domestic sphere, working as nannies, maids, or housekeepers. Eva, Judith, and Telma may be perceived as oblivious or unqualified because they lack proficiency in this second language. Their jobs, in turn, focus on manual labor and reside in the private sector, in which individuals determine employment eligibility. While they diligently scrub toilets, fold laundry, and oversee other household affairs, these individuals are not proportionally compensated for their efforts, earning as little as five dollars per hour without health benefits (Prado). Judith, Eva, and Telma do not have many employment avenues to explore without a social security card or worker’s permit.  

Without autonomy and security, a third world woman transforms into an exile. They are “cut off from their roots, their land, their past” (Said, 1984, p. 51). Judith, Telma, and Eva uprooted their life, prospecting for opportunities to improve their condition. Unable to fully transplant to the United State or exemplify Western expectations, las domésticas acquire a “discontinuous state of being,” not quite belonging to a particular geographical region nor resembling their prior selves (p. 51). These exiles then develop “contrapuntal consciousness,” or an awareness of two cultures, settings, homes (p. 55); even though Los Angeles is the setting of Maid in America, Eva, Judith, and Telma have varying home countries: Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, respectively. They are aware of expectations as a worker, but also their role as caregivers or housekeepers, undocumented immigrants, and mother or family member. Juggling these scripts, consequently, grows too onerous that an exile’s achievements “are permanently undermined by his or her sense of loss” (p. 49). Even though wages and circumstances might seem better in the United States, Eva misses her grandmother’s death and fails to mourn this tragedy with loved ones, whereas Judith departs from four children which causes the youngest to give the title ‘mom’ to her biological aunt. Becoming a tax accountant or business owner are undercut by key, transient moments with family, which is an integral component of the third world woman stereotype.

I couldn’t help but think of bell hooks. Maid in America complicates “mother worship” as Telma, a Latina woman, works for an African American family. She particularly cares for Mickey Marbury, their six-year-old son, to such an extent that he calls Telma “mom.” Not only does Karol Marbury, Mickey’s mother, bring this up but she then analyzes her own maternal role; she considers her work important yet her son even more so, rationalizing why she sought a nanny. While there should be further analysis on “mother worship” in this documentary, Maid in America supports the notion of home as political. Prado’s (2005) juxtaposition of the domestic worker’s homes with those of their employers exemplifies a disconnect, geographically, materially, and symbolically. Eva, Telma, and Judith’s work in homes and may have shelter yet lack place. They embody hook’s deduction: “For when a people no longer have the space to construct homeplace, we cannot build a meaningful community of resistance” (p.47). Their exploitation continued because of social and legislative obstacles.

References

hooks, b. (1990). “Homeplace: a site of resistance.” in Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics, pp. 41-49. Boston: South End Press.

Mohanty, C. T. (1995). Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses. In B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths, & H. Tiffin (Eds.), The Post-Colonial Studies Reader, pp. 259-263. London: Routledge.

Prado, A. (Director). (2005). Maid in America [Motion Picture]. Impacto Films.

Said, E. W. (1984, September). The Mind of Winter. Harper's, pp. 49-55.