Navigating lives: the spatiotemporality of the gender identity, agency and subjectivity of Filipino seamen’s wives

This thesis looks at international labour migration from the point of view of those who are left behind‘. It focuses on the experiences of Filipino women married to Filipino seamen and specifically examines the spatiality and temporality of their gender identity, agency and subjectivity. Through the concept of social imaginary, it reconceptualises the role of these women in migration and considers them to play a more active role in migration processes than is suggested by the label ‗left behind‘. How the women were constrained by and creatively responded to their material and social relations not least those obtaining in the alternating absence and presence of their husbands is approached from a generative theory of subject formation. The spatiotemporality of these women‘s gender identity, subjectivity and agency is elaborated through critical analyses of aspects of their experiences and lives: on being on their own‘, routine and the temporal organization of family life, imagined communion‘ and intimacy, and autonomy. These analyses show the embeddedness of the women in material and social contexts including ties of reciprocity and indebtedness. They demonstrate the mutual implication of space and time, show their navigation of the spatial and temporal dimensions of their lives, as well as link the women‘s subjective and personal experiences to wider social and political narratives. The thesis concludes with a synthesis of and further reflection on the implications of the main arguments of the study. This includes a discussion of some specific strategies employed by the women to negotiate their spatiotemporal locations: waiting game‘, mental choreography‘ and gender negotiation‘. Finally, it reflects on the study‘s theoretical, empirical, methodological and policy contributions