Contained resistance: lawsuits and agency of Chinese migrant workers abroad.
This paper conceptualises contained resistance through labour lawsuits as a form of constrained labour agency in the context of transnational labour migration. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in labour geography, migration studies, and legal research, it identifies legal action as an undere...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies Vol. 52; no. 9; pp. 2471 - 2491 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
May2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=193226880&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 193226880 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1369183X 56F jtl: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies issn: 1369183X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May2026 vid: 52 iid: 9 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 193226880 10.1080/1369183X.2025.2559924 ppf: 2471 ppct: 20 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 573KB tig: atl: Contained resistance: lawsuits and agency of Chinese migrant workers abroad. aug: au: Fei, Ding affil: Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA su: Courts Labor disputes Transnationalism Citizenship Human behavior Corporate power Labor courts Overseas Chinese sug: subj: Courts Labor disputes Transnationalism Citizenship Human behavior Corporate power Labor courts Overseas Chinese keyword: Africa China citizenship labour agency lawsuits transnational migration ab: This paper conceptualises contained resistance through labour lawsuits as a form of constrained labour agency in the context of transnational labour migration. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in labour geography, migration studies, and legal research, it identifies legal action as an underexplored channel through which migrant workers abroad contest corporate power and assert rights claims. Based on content analysis of court rulings involving Chinese workers who returned from five African countries to litigate against their Chinese employers, the paper sheds light on both the potential and limitations of lawsuits in addressing overseas labour disputes. Citizenship emerges as an important theme in court deliberations: employers invoke shared citizenship to assert power and priority over workers, while workers frame their appeals around citizen rights and protections. Courts, in turn, must navigate the tension between universal rights and the specificities of transnational labour, which results in uneven interpretations and rulings. The inter-workings among corporate actors, migrant workers, and legal institutions revealed in these cases highlight the need to seriously incorporate cross-border litigation and its agential and structural features within labour and migration scholarship. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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