BelMix Seminar Series 2026(1):3 - Julien Debonneville - "The Politics of lntimacy. The Social Constructionof LaborHierarchies in the Global Care Economy"

We are pleased to invite you to our upcoming BelMix seminar, scheduled for 5 May with Julien Debonneville, EASt/MSH Visiting professor, who will be giving a talk entitled "The Politics of Intimacy. The Social Construction of Labor Hierarchies in the Global Care Economy".

This session will This session will take place from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM in MSH Reception room (Reception Room ULB – Building DE1 – Level 3 – Room R.3.105, Avenue Antoine Depage 1, 1000 Brussels) and online via Zoom. Please see below for more information.

We look forward to welcoming many of you to this event.

Best regards,

The BelMix Seminar organizing committee

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When: Tuesday 5 May 2026, 10:30 am to 12 pm (Brussels time)

Where: MSH Reception room (Reception Room ULB – Building DE1 – Level 3 – Room R.3.105, Avenue Antoine Depage 1, 1000 Brussels)

and online via Zoom. Register here to receive the link:

https://forms.gle/b38Y7C3Tqp6DJfbS8

Abstract

This communication examines the dynamics of distinction among migrant domestic workers within the globalized care economy. Drawing on ethnographic research of the transnational migration of Filipina domestic workers, it explores how gendered, racialized, and nationalized constructions of “skills“ shape labor hierarchies within employers’ households. By doing so, it sheds light on how structural inequalities are reproduced through everyday practices of distinction by employers and among migrant workers. At the same time, this communication highlights the making of a shared “imagined community“ among Filipina migrant domestic workers, which serves both as a resource for collective identification and as a mechanism for reinforcing social hierarchies with migrant workers of other nationalities. In conclusion, this communication shows that the private sphere constitutes a fundamentally political space in which social hierarchies are continuously produced, reproduced, and negotiated, while inviting a reconceptualization of the boundaries between the private and professional spheres in the global care economy.

Biography

Julien Debonneville is a sociologist holding a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Geneva. Over the past fifteen years, he has developed substantial experience in research and teaching at both national and international levels. His doctoral work examined processes of othering in the migration of Filipina domestic workers through an ethnographic study of recruitment, training, and deployment practices in the Philippines. His research has focused mainly on mobility and migration, gender inequality, and social policy. He is currently a senior research associate at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HETSL) and the University of Geneva, where he conducts several projects on the non-take-up of social benefits in Switzerland.