Semiotic landscape in the periphery: Examining the discursive infrastructure of transnational labor migration in Hong Kong

Abstract

The overwhelming presence of Filipino Domestic Workers (FDWs) in Hong Kong has led to the emergence of a peripheral(ized) semiotic landscape in the administrative, financial and commercial centre of Hong Kong. This is a rich, multimodal, multisensory semioscape that arises from the FDWs activities which also provides vital infrastructure for the FDWs from across the city. As part of a larger project, this paper draws on a rich body of data that includes: •temporary and permanent multilingual signage; •mobile text and text-laden artefacts such as flyers, promotional text messages, balikbayan boxes, t-shirts, etc.; •bodies, events and activities (over time relocated from some areas of the city to others); •aural backdrop of conversations and street calls (e.g. South Asian vendor’s calls in Tagalog); •interviews with FDWs about their work and leisure spaces, languages and resources. A close examination of the data reveals a relatively diverse semiotic assemblage that operates on the symbolic periphery of the city and, as part of transnational flows, on the periphery of globalization. Yet, despite its marginal position at both scale levels (municipal and global), the material and symbolic presence of FDWs has brought about enduring, material and symbolic change to the sociolinguistic terrain of Hong Kong creating a spatio-temporal tension between FDWs’ emancipatory, subversive and contested public presence vis-à-vis their inequitable status.