Babel: The abject cosmopolitan and the border. Issue 2 (1st October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Urtiaga, Rosa
• Is Part Of: Crossings. Volume 8:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 191
• Page End: 204
• Publication Date: 2017-10-01
• Subjects: Emigration and immigration -- Periodicals; Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Multiculturalism -- Periodicals; 304.8205
• DOI: 10.1386/cjmc.8.2.191_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-4344

Abstract

In Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, a Mexican nanny represents those undocumented domestic workers that constantly move north and south the US–Mexico border as part of global circuits. I build on the concept of the 'abject cosmopolitan', coined by Peter Nyers, and on classical theories of abjection. I also draw from theories about the global feminization of work, gender and migration, and transnational domestic service. From a cosmopolitan perspective that is sensitive to gender, race and class, this article explores the ways in which Babel counters long-held stereotypes and enables audiences to erode borders between strangers.