High-Tech Housewives
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University of Washington PressHigh-Tech Housewives
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University of Washington Pressindian it workers, gendered labor,
and transmigration
amy bhatt
High-Tech
Housewives
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Indian IT Workers, Gendered Labor,
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and Transmigration
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Amy Bhatt
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U niversity of Washington Pr ess
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Seattle
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Copyright © 2018 by the University of Washington Press
Printed and bound in the United States of America
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Portions of chapter 4 were published previously as Amy Bhatt, Madhavi Murty, and
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Priti Ramamurthy, “Hegemonic Developments: The New Indian Middle Class, Gendered
Subalterns, and Diasporic Returnees in the Event of Neoliberalism,” Signs: A Journal of
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Women in Culture and Society 36, no. 1 (2010): 127–52, www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/
signs; and Amy Bhatt, “Resident ‘Non-resident’ Indians: Gender, Labor and the Return to
India,” in Transnational Migration to Asia: The Question of Return, ed. Michiel Baas, 55–72
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(Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2015), reprinted with permission of Amsterdam
University Press.
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University of Washington Press
www.washington.edu/uwpress
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file
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isbn 978-0-295-74354-7 (Hardcover)
isbn 978-0-295-74355-4 (Paperback)
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isbn 978-0-295-74356-1 (Ebook)
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To my favorites, Kevin Bromer and Anika Bromer
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To my eternal supporters, Ranjana and Pradip Bhatt
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F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 5 2/15/18 10:31 AM
Contents
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Acknowledgments ix
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Introduction: Gender, Transmigration, and Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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1 Transmigrants: Identity, Nationalism, and Bridge Building . . . . . . . . . 18
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2 Engineer Brides and H-1B Grooms: Visas, Marriage,
and Family Formation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
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3 Transnational Housewives: Work Restrictions ng
and the Gendered Division of Labor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
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4 Returnees: “R2I,” Citizenship, and the Domestic Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
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5 Re-migrants: Challenges, Repatriation,
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and Future Migrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Conclusion: Circulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
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Notes 149
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Bibliography 177
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Index 197
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Acknowledgments
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When I first moved to Seattle in 2004, I became involved with Chaya Seattle
(now API Chaya), an advocacy organization aimed at ending family-based
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violence and creating community among South Asian women in the region.
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As the tech industries in the Pacific Northwest exploded, so too did the
South Asian population. In particular, the arrival of new temporary workers
from India, along with women coming on family reunification visas, were
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a vital part of this IT boom. Some of these women came to the attention of
Chaya staff as they faced isolation and sometimes violence in their home
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lives. Although not all H-4 holders experienced abuse, many were stuck in
remote suburbs and were largely absent from the larger South Asian com-
munity institutions in the area. I began volunteering on a small project
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aimed at reaching out to those women, which ultimately brought me into
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contact with some of the participants of this study. While the issue of H-4
vulnerability was still my foremost concern, I grew interested in a larger
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question: what role does the family play in sustaining and promoting trans-
national migration and how do women fare as a result of that movement?
To answer that question and others, I tapped into a rich network of
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Indian information technology (IT) workers, thanks to introductions from
colleagues such as Tapoja Chaudhuri, Sharmistha Ghosh, and Bill Nord-
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wall. Through those introductions, I met nearly a hundred current and
former H-1B and H-4 visa holders who were willing to share their stories
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and experiences with me. It is their stories that drive this study; they are the
embodied subjects of transnationalism whose labor is a major force in the
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IT industry globally. While my focus was predominantly on the Pacific
Northwest, it quickly became clear to me that their stories did not end with
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their arrival to the United States. Instead, their initial migration on the H-1B
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or H-4 visa was a stepping-stone along a circuitous journey that often
included moving back and forth between India and the United States. In
order to trace the consequences of these repeated migrations, I traveled to
Bangalore and Hyderabad, India, to visit some of the former H-1B and H-4
visa holders I had met in Seattle and to meet others like them who had
moved back after living in the United States for long stretches. Even though
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F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 9 2/15/18 10:31 AM
x Ac k now l e d g m e n t s
living in India was not always their final goal, the “R2I” (return to India)
proved to be an important key to understanding how families were practic-
ing a form of transnationalism that was tied to their immediate and future
aspirations, but also constrained by the global job market, immigration
restrictions in the United States, and family concerns. My time in India was
considerably aided by Madhu Chawla, my gracious hostess in Delhi; the
Murty family, who treated me like a family member during my time in
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Hyderabad; and Carol Upadhya and the National Institute of Advanced
Studies in Bangalore. Special thanks goes to the Bhatt and Pancholi families
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in Mumbai and Pune, who not only helped me navigate the transportation,
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hotel, and visa logistics required of ethnographic fieldwork abroad, but also
taught me the true value of transnational family life.
This book and the years of research it encompasses would not have been
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possible without the many sources of financial and intellectual support that
I received along the way. At the University of Washington, I am thankful for
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the resources provided by the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality
Studies, a UW presidential writing fellowship, the Chester Fritz Fellowship
for International Study and Exchange, five Foreign Language and Area Stud-
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ies Fellowships from the South Asia Center at the Jackson School of Inter-
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national Studies, the Society of Scholars Fellowship at the Simpson Center
for the Humanities, and the Project in Interdisciplinary Pedagogy Fellow
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ship from UW Bothell. The mentorship of Priti Ramamurthy, David Allen,
Chandan Reddy, Sareeta Amrute, Judith Howard, Amanda Swarr, Shirley
Yee, Tani Barlow, Rachel Chapman, Michael Shapiro, Heidi Pauwels, Nikhil
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Singh, Bruce Burgett, Julie Shayne, and S. Charusheela pushed and refined
my thinking and writing. The comrades-in-writing and thinking that I met
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during my time in Seattle provided inspiration and much-needed company,
laughs, and happy hours during the hard, lonely years of work: Thank you,
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Michelle McGowen, Teresa Mares, Madhavi Murthy, Juned Shaikh, Nalini
Iyer, Sarah Burnett, Abel Kerevel, Matt Bunt, Dave Citrin, Uma Rao, Gita
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Mehrotra, and Shiwani Srivastava (who, in particular, taught me a great
deal about finding my voice and writing for a broader audience).
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I have also had the good fortune to be surrounded by supportive col-
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leagues at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who have helped
me to refine this project. The resources from a Summer Faculty Fellowship
from the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and a Summer
Faculty Research Fellowship and a Scholarly Completion Fund Award from
the Dresher Center for the Humanities allowed me to expand my data col-
lection in India and Seattle and to provide a longitudinal view of Indian IT
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 10 2/15/18 10:31 AM
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transmigration. I have benefited greatly from the rich intellectual commu-
nity at UMBC, where I have shared and workshopped my writing among
colleagues in Gender and Women’s Studies, Asian Studies, Language Lit-
eracy and Culture, Media and Communication Studies, and American
Studies. In particular, I thank Carole McCann, Scott Casper, Constantine
Vaporis, Anna Shields, Theo Gonzalves, Jason Loviglio, Fan Yang, Rebecca
Adelman, Susan McDonough, Jessica Berman, Dawn Biehler, Nicole King,
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Tamara Bhalla, Viviana McManus, Mejdulene Shomali, and Christine Mair.
I also thank Elle Trusz, Kimberley Hardaway, and Elle Everhart for the
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outstanding administrative support they provided, and the graduate and
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undergraduate assistants with whom I have had the pleasure of working:
Richa Sabu, Saba Ghulamali, Emerald Christopher, and most importantly,
Sherella Cupid, whose responsiveness and attention to detail helped me
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better my writing and teaching. Kate Drabinski and Christine Mallinson
deserve special recognition for acting as vital sounding boards and because
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they are simply awesome and brilliant. Baltimore would not be home with-
out you.
My work has also benefited from critical feedback from the Yale Modern
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South Asia Workshop, the University of Maryland, College Park Trans
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national South Asia Colloquium, the Dresher Center for the Humanities
Brownbag Series, and the American Institute for Indian Studies Workshop
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at the Conference on South Asia at Madison, Wisconsin.
This book is also the product of the hard work of the excellent team at
the University of Washington Press. I have had the privilege of working with
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the smart and exceedingly patient Larin McLaughlin, editor-in-chief. I
thank Mike Baccam, Julie Van Pelt, Rachael Levay, Sue Carter, Eileen Allen,
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and other members of press and production team, as well as Ranjit Arab,
who first encouraged me to submit this manuscript. I would also like to
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express my gratitude to the esteemed editors of the Global South Asia
series: Padma Kaimal, Kalyanakrishnan (Shivi) Sivaramakrishnan, and
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Anand A. Yang. I am honored to have my book included among such excel-
lent examples of scholarship related to contemporary and historic South
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Asian issues. Lastly, the book has been much improved thanks to the careful
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reading of two anonymous readers. I am humbled by their thoughtful
feedback and support for the project.
On a personal note, I am grateful for the unflagging support of my fam-
ily: my father, Pradip Bhatt, whose migration set in motion my own trajec-
tory, and who is missed every day; my mother, Ranjana Bhatt, who was once
a bride traveling across oceans to start a new life in the United States, and
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 11 2/15/18 10:31 AM
xii Ac k now l e d g m e n t s
who is the backbone of our family; Rekha Bhatt, Mike Bales, and my sweet-
est little niece, Dahlia, whose residence in Seattle means that I always will
have a home in the Pacific Northwest; my brother, Ajay Bhatt; and the
Bromer-Frey family—Denise, Craig, Elise, Chris, and Alex—whose love and
support I have enjoyed for more than twenty years. I must also thank my
“chosen family,” who are always with me, no matter the distance: Sarah
Childers, Phelps Feeley, Neha Chawla, Nishima Chudasama, Megan
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McCann, Tim Jones, Greg Reaume, Seema and Saul Clifasefi, April Wilkin-
son, Ryan Pederson, Connie Okada, Bernard Kelley, and Jared and Amy
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Mass. I am truly lucky to have you as part of my community.
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At its core, this book is about how the social reproductive work of the
household makes paid labor possible. I cannot thank the following people
enough for the ways in which their caring work (both remunerated and
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gifted) has allowed me to pursue my own aspirations: Zanele Nxumalo, for
her loving care of my daughter during her early life; the teachers at the
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Baltimore Montessori School who tend to her each day; Ellen Krouss, Chris
Leonard, Josh Birenbaum, and the other families in Baltimore who have
provided much-appreciated playdates and other breaks from parenting so
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that I might write uninterrupted. Finally, my work could not happen with-
as
out the care I receive daily from the loves of my life: Kevin Bromer, whose
devotion to the life we have built and belief in my abilities keep me focused
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and forward moving, and Anika Bromer, who pushes me to work harder
and faster, so that I might spend as much time as possible with her.
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High-Tech Housewives
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Introduction
Gender, Transmigration,
and Citizenship
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Sitting at a picnic table at Crossroads Park in Bellevue,
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Washington, Sarika and I blend into the multi-ethnic crowd while enjoying
the last vestiges of the Seattle summer. We are meeting outside with the
hope of catching some of the late afternoon sunshine. The park is thirteen
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miles from Seattle’s downtown waterfront, two and half miles from Micro-
soft’s headquarters, and just across the street from the Crossroads Mall
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shopping complex. A native of Mumbai and now a local resident, Sarika
relishes the uncharacteristic warmth of the day. It is a stark contrast to her
arrival during the gray and damp Seattle winter six years earlier, after her
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wedding in February 2004: “I thought it was pretty grim, when I first came.
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No sun, nothing. Just rain, rain, rain all the time,” Sarika laments.
Sarika met her husband, Dilip, while they attended college in Mumbai.
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After graduation, she began working for a small information technology
(IT) company, where she put her newly earned degree in computer engi-
neering to the test. Dilip had come on a student visa to the United States,
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hoping to complete a master’s degree in computer science. Upon finishing
his degree, he was hired by a contracting company on a temporary H-1B
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guest worker visa. The company then placed him on a two-year project at
Microsoft, and Dilip settled into a shared apartment with three other Indian
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men. Soon after, Dilip proposed to Sarika, who was still in India and estab-
lishing herself as a software developer. Over the winter holidays, Dilip
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reunited with Sarika for two weeks of celebrations in their home city. As
soon as the couple completed their nuptials and the requisite visits to their
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relatives’ homes, they set about the task of filing the mountain of paperwork
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that would allow Sarika to come to the US on an H-4 family reunification
visa. A month later, the application was approved, and Sarika boarded a
flight to join Dilip in Seattle.
Prior to attending college, Sarika had not considered moving abroad, but
once she selected engineering as a major, she began to recognize the inevi-
tability of migration: “It’s what we all do. If you are really serious and want
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 3 2/15/18 10:31 AM
4 I n t roduc t ion
to get good, you must go. It’s all about America.” Sarika was not unlike
many other young IT professionals in India who assume that time abroad
is the best way to develop new skills and work experience. As Sarika watched
Dilip progress in his career, she hoped that after getting married, she would
be able to find work in the US. Even though she knew the H-4 visa had work
restrictions and she was apprehensive about moving so far from away her
personal and professional networks, Sarika had hoped that she would
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quickly find a job that would sponsor her own H-1B visa. At worst, she
anticipated that she could apply for work authorization while going through
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the green card process with her husband. She was sure that moving would
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allow her to advance her career in the heart of the software industry, along-
side Dilip.
But, once Sarika arrived, things were quite different. As a dependent
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spouse on an H-4 visa, she found that IT employers were reluctant to sponsor
her for an H-1B, even though she was an experienced developer. Initially
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regretting her decision, Sarika recalled, “You start thinking that you’ve made
a big mistake and it’s all a big mistake. For those girls whose husbands are not
supportive, it can get really, really bad.” Although Sarika was well qualified
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to work as a programmer, her H-4 visa barred her from pursuing formal job
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opportunities. Consequently, instead of jetting off to work in one of the glit-
tering office parks that dot the western Washington landscape, Sarika is now
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a suburban housewife whose day revolves around chores and shopping.
Since arriving in Seattle, Sarika has been in career purgatory for more
than half a decade. Dilip has applied for permanent residency, but delays in
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processing mean that the couple will likely have to wait several more years
before their application is approved. For Sarika, this means she will con-
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tinue to wait for work authorization. In the meantime, Dilip hopes that his
contracting agency will renew his assignment as they simultaneously move
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through the immigration process. Rather than settle into a comfortable life
in the US, as she once hoped, Sarika is readying herself for another long
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period of uncertainty. Quite possibly, if Dilip loses his job or his H-1B is not
renewed, they will be forced to leave the country altogether. And yet, as a
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couple, they have decided to endure their liminal status in the hope that
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they will someday hold the coveted “green card”—or even more valuable,
US citizenship. Stretching out her legs, Sarika turns in the direction of the
mall, her eyes lingering on a Microsoft employee shuttle, which has stopped
at the cross light. “This was not what I expected,” she sighs.
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 4 2/15/18 10:31 AM
G e n de r , T r a n s m ig r at ion, a n d C i t i z e n s h i p 5
Sarika and Dilip’s story is a common one among their peers. They are part
of a growing class of technically trained Indians who do not seek settlement
abroad, necessarily, but who tend to view migration as an instrumental
factor for advancing their professional and personal lives.1 At first glance,
it seems as though Sarika and Dilip’s decision was financially motivated,
since he was the first to secure a foothold in a US-based technology com-
pany. Sarika moved as a trailing, or “dependent,” spouse, and her choice
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could be read as a calculated decision that prioritized her partner’s earning
potential in the US over her own career. The consequences and reasons for
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her migration, however, are more complex: Sarika’s own career aspirations,
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along with cultural and familial expectations, shaped her educational tra-
jectory, as well as her decision to marry and immigrate with Dilip. While
she maintains hope that temporary migration will lead to more permanent
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national affiliations that will give her better social and economic opportuni-
ties in the future, for now she has assumed a caregiving role that has allowed
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Dilip to focus on and progress in his career.
This book is an ethnographic examination of the limits, opportunities,
experiences, and politics that characterize the lives of transnational
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migrants such as Sarika and Dilip. It explores how an alphabet soup of visas,
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immigration policies, and citizenship requirements shape their life cycle,
intimate decision-making, and long-term planning as they move between
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their home and host countries. It also emphasizes the role that the unpaid
and undervalued labor of women plays in creating the conditions that allow
knowledge workers to circulate between global technology centers.2 While
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migration literature related to middle-class or professional migrants over-
whelmingly focuses on the experiences of men as workers, women are vital
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to migration and settlement as educated and trained workers, and more
commonly, as wives. 3 Today, women represent nearly half of all global
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migrants. Often moving as part of family reunification programs, women
make up 52 percent of the Global North’s migrant population.4 If we do not
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seriously consider the work that women do in both formal and informal
economies, our understanding of professional forms of transmigration is
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woefully incomplete.
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It is no coincidence that Sarika and Dilip are from India; the circulation
of workers between India and the US has a long history that dates back to
the turn of the nineteenth century.5 Several excellent historical accounts
have detailed the multiple pathways that transported Indians abroad during
the pre- and postcolonial periods,6 as well as the ways in which Indian lead-
ers and international universities cultivated relationships to develop new
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6 I n t roduc t ion
generations of technically trained national workers who set their sights
abroad.7 As a result of heavy state-led investment in technology-centered
education programs after Independence in 1947, India has emerged as a
leading producer of engineers, information technology professionals, and
software developers globally. After the US immigration system was over-
hauled in 1965 to prioritize skills, labor needs, and family reunification,
Indian emigration accelerated as many sought to move to the United States.8
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Since 1990, US companies have recruited Indians through the H-1B tem-
porary guest worker program, which brings in foreign workers who possess
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specialized skills in fields such as information technology, education,
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finance, and health care.9 The visa is issued for three years with the possibil-
ity for an extension to six years. Within that time, the employer must decide
whether to sponsor the temporary employee. Otherwise, the visa holder is
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required to find a new job or obtain a different category of visa. In the worst-
case scenario, the person must leave the country.
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Today, Indians are the second fastest growing immigrant group in the
US, thanks in part to the H-1B program, and they have established multi-
generational communities across the nation.10 English-educated and techni-
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cally trained, Indian workers are regarded as important liaisons between
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offshore contractors and parent tech industry companies, where the major-
ity of H-1B visa holders are concentrated.11 Each year, tens of thousands of
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(primarily) young, heterosexual Indian men come to work on H-1B visas.12
Many more apply but do not obtain visas.13 Even more striking than the
annual influx of Indian H-1B visa holders is the flow of spouses and children
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who immigrate through the H-4 family reunification visa.14 While H-1B
visas are capped annually, H-4 visas are not. Thus, the number of spouses
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and children migrating annually is even higher than the numbers of H-1B
visas issued, which creates a surplus population of family members who
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are also part of “temporary worker” migration. These family members are
considered dependents and, as a result, tens of thousands of women find
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themselves in the same position as Sarika: they are legally permitted to stay
in the US, but they are unable to work, file for permanent residency, or, in
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some cases, even open a bank account or library card in their own name.15
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High-Tech Housewives examines how these transnational migrants—or
transmigrants—create lives that are not geographically bound, but are
shaped by the politics, policies, and imaginaries of migration and settlement.
More specifically, it is a consideration of how migration intersects with the
gendered work of social reproduction as it affects intimate family relation-
ships, as well as claims to citizenship and belonging. As precarious subjects
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G e n de r , T r a n s m ig r at ion, a n d C i t i z e n s h i p 7
of globalization, transmigrants must grapple with their liminal positioning.
As “nonresident Indians,” or NRIs, they occupy different positions at various
points in time: students, temporary workers, dependent spouses, permanent
residents, citizens, returnees, and re-migrants. Their circulation between and
across these categories and geographic locations informs how they sustain
families and build communities. Some decide to return to India, while others
are forced to leave upon losing their jobs; others spend some time in India
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but then decide to migrate back to the United States. As such, they cannot
be classified easily as migrants, immigrants, or returnees. Rather, their cat-
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egorization is dependent on their visa or naturalization status, family net-
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work, company affiliation, and personal identification at any given moment.16
As Deborah Boehm argues in her study of Mexican transnational migration,
“Place matters even as it is transcended”; to that end, this study shows how
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transmigration is as much about navigating borders as it is about creating
homes that can move, adapt, and shift across locations.17
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In this book, I ask three key questions: First, how do transmigrants adapt
to the precariousness created by the collusion of state and industry desires
to maintain an easily expandable and retractable flow of labor through tem-
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porary worker programs? Without a doubt, transmigrants occupy a con-
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tested space in debates over the changing nature of work, economic growth,
and immigration.18 As David Harvey has argued, corporate-state alliances
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that are motivated by profit, just-in-time production, and efficiency over the
rights of labor or needs of human capital have become ordinary in an era
in which neoliberalism is no longer viewed as one ideology among many,
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but has become widely accepted as foundational to economic prosperity and
social progress.19 Indian technology transmigrants in particular have been
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valorized as ideal subjects of neoliberalism and as “circulating brains” by
some advocates of high-skilled immigration and looser migration restric-
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tions. At the same time, critics of temporary worker programs paint them
as weak winners of globalization, indentured servants, or “techno-braceros”
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who are caught in unequal circuits of labor exchange and exploitation.20
High-Tech Housewives is an attempt to moderate across these perspectives
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by demonstrating both the disadvantage and opportunity that temporary
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migrant worker programs levy, particularly for women and other “non-
economic” actors who are part of the same migration flows. For that reason,
I center the role that women play in supporting and sustaining such forms
of movements.
Second, how do notions of gender, culture, class, and family inform
transmigration through household dynamics and intimate relationships?
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 7 2/15/18 10:31 AM
8 I n t roduc t ion
While many accounts of migration focus on formal economic and political
rationalities and drivers, I aim to show how the gendered and informal work
of the household operates as a vital domain through which mobility and
circulation are sustained. Moreover, the transmigrant household is a strati-
fied space in which cultural and gender norms, along with constraints cre-
ated by immigration policies, are consolidated to produce what I call the
transnational housewife. I theorize this term to signal the social roles played
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by non-wage-earning actors whose place-making and caretaking activities
underpin workers’ ability to be ideal global employees. The women in this
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study classify as “high-tech” transnational housewives; they are closely
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aligned with the global technology industries. However, the term trans
national housewife is intended to showcase the caregiving work that women
do more broadly to allow cross-border migration, even at the expense of
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their own careers or well-being. While this study can be read as reflective
of old narratives about cultural patriarchy that place women’s ambitions as
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secondary to those of men, examining the intimate lives inside transmi-
grant households reveals how decision-making around migration and
settlement is structured by a complex set of factors, such as cultural norms,
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kinship obligations, friendship networks, gendered and racialized discrimi-
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nation in the workplace, and disciplining visa regimes that create worker
vulnerability. These factors shape how migrants position themselves in the
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US and India as flexible and mobile, even though such positioning can also
lead to loss in terms of community formation, belonging and emplacement,
and gender equality within the household and workplace.
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Finally, how do transmigrants navigate their career opportunities and
personal aspirations alongside increasing immigration restrictions and
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regulations? Scholars of transnationalism have argued that in a world of
increasing mobility and market logics, multidirectional flows of people,
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goods, finance, and ideas have reduced the regulatory function of national
boundaries. As part of global knowledge economies that rely on dispersed
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and virtual networks of production, Indian IT workers are emblematic of
globalization as companies rely on their labor to ensure a twenty-four-hour
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cycle of work and service, regardless of location. However, they are also
U
subject to job and immigration insecurity when they migrate abroad as
guest workers. One way that transmigrants resolve this tension between the
demands of the global economy and the material barriers to settlement
posed by the host state is to spend years working toward obtaining perma-
nent residency or citizenship. Even if they do not plan on settling in the
United States long-term, citizenship becomes an important juridical tool
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 8 2/15/18 10:31 AM
G e n de r , T r a n s m ig r at ion, a n d C i t i z e n s h i p 9
for facilitating movement. It also operates as a way for transmigrants to
reconcile the physical and psychic displacement created by migration and
helps them circulate as valuable economic and social agents whose labors
bridge multiple national locations.
Tr ansnational Housewives
ss
In considering these questions, this book intervenes into debates over the
role of gender in transmigration and how global movement impacts ideas
e
about citizenship and belonging. Often framed as a decision driven by push
Pr
and pull factors, transnational migration is viewed as a choice made by
individuals who move abroad to pursue better opportunities than those
available in their home countries. Viewing transnational migration as pri-
on
marily about self-determination or economic rationalities eclipses the
extra-economic factors that are vital to migration and the resulting life
t
ng
worlds they create, as well as the role the state plays in creating the con
ditions for emigration or immigration. Moreover, studies of transmigration
have generally focused on men’s experiences when they migrate for work,
hi
while women are presumed to remain in home countries to care for children
as
and family networks.21 In the cases examined in this book, transmigration
is more often a family process, as spouses and children also move along with
W
primary workers. Women’s roles in the household as transnational house-
wives are crucial to maintaining the kind of circulating lifestyle that allows
men to pursue job opportunities across borders, even as their own employ-
of
ment prospects are limited or undermined. Moreover, their positioning
as housewives is juridically enforced through family reunification policies
ity
that create patriarchal family models in which men are breadwinners and
women are dependents who are prohibited from working while living in
rs
the US.
The acceptance of this division is partly, though by no means exclusively,
ve
cultural. As Smitha Radhakrishnan argues in her sociological study of
transnational Indian IT workers, many retain traditional attitudes about
ni
gender and family roles even as they cultivate culturally appropriate notions
U
of difference grounded in ideas about individualism, development, and
modernity.22 Like the “new Indian woman,” who is typically urban, edu-
cated, global in her outlook, but aligned with Indian family norms, trans-
national housewives are expected to prioritize the “pure” space of the
home.23 By devoting themselves to the home, where cultural and ethnic
identities are safeguarded from the potentially alien values of the host
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 9 2/15/18 10:31 AM
10 I n t roduc t ion
society, women perform the social reproductive work that is vital to main-
taining connections to life in India and creating homes abroad. They bring
together friends, host religious and cultural celebrations, keep up with far-
flung relatives, and participate in informal economic activities such as cook-
ing, sewing, and childcare as well as teaching arts, language, music, and
dance. They also manage the household and are responsible for creating
networks that can be transported back to India if or when the family returns.
ss
However, cultural explanations obscure how the true cost of transmi-
grant labor is externalized or offset by the dependent housewife’s labor. My
e
use of the term housewife is derived from Marxist feminist articulations
Pr
of the unpaid and gendered work done in the household to produce workers
who are able to meet the needs of late capitalism. As feminist economist
Gillian J. Hewitson writes, this devalued and non-wage work is an “essential
on
component of the development of future citizens, workers, and taxpayers.”24
Though Marx and Engels acknowledged the need for women’s labor in the
t
ng
home, this work is systematically characterized as existing outside of the
economic realm and viewed as an extension of women’s “natural” biosocial
role as caretakers, rather than as foundational to capitalism itself. Exam-
hi
ining the subordination of women historically, sociologist Maria Mies
as
famously argued that this rendering of women’s work as “non-economic”
leads to a gendered division of labor that places women below men economi-
W
cally and socially.25 Through the “housewifization” of labor, which requires
a structural separation of the sexes into different domains, men are able to
accumulate capital as they occupy the social role of the “breadwinner” who
of
is free to sell his labor precisely because women, as housewives, are not free
to do the same. Though few legal provisions prohibit women from working
ity
or mandate that they remain in the home in the majority of contemporary
societies, housewifization is functionally enacted through US immigration
rs
policies that allow transmigrant men to earn wages, while the women who
accompany them cannot. Reducing women’s unremunerated care work to
ve
affect or a “natural” manifestation of their biological capacities systemati-
cally devalues gendered labor and obscures the true cost of labor power.
ni
Examining the Indian transnational household through the lens of the
U
housewife reveals how masculine mobility is predicated on feminine depen-
dency as women give up their careers or put them on hold in order to sup-
port labor migration. While some women certainly choose to disengage
from formal workplaces to facilitate migration, others are forced into such
situations because of structural and juridical factors. Regardless of choice,
culture and nature become the alibi for state policies that keep certain
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 10 2/15/18 10:31 AM
G e n de r , T r a n s m ig r at ion, a n d C i t i z e n s h i p 11
women out of the workforce and further minimize the threat of competition
from foreign workers by limiting which migrants can and cannot work.
Moreover, for industries reliant on temporary workers, spousal migration
(and subsequent dependency) actually stabilizes the workforce, as workers
are less likely to seek other positions or better opportunities if they have
obligations at home. To that end, the transnational household supports the
needs of some workers who seek career advancement through migration,
ss
but primarily in patriarchal gendered terms and to the benefit of capital.
Housewifization has significant consequences; as my study shows, women
e
who occupy these dependent roles experience a material loss of financial
Pr
stability and personal autonomy as they are reduced from workers to pri-
mary caregivers, wives, and mothers. The term housewife thus indicates the
social location that women occupy and how it is shaped by structural fac-
on
tors, rather than a diminutive identity category.
t
Circulating Citizenship
ng
While transmigration may be partly predicated on gendered divisions of
hi
labor, it is also tied to migrants’ ability to navigate complex immigration
as
and naturalization processes. Studies of transnationalism tend to emphasize
the porousness of borders, particularly as migrants seek out ways to circum-
W
vent formal state immigration mechanisms. In such accounts, the value of
citizenship has been deemphasized amid the growing acceptance of global-
ization and the decreasing regulatory functions of governments that control
of
flows across borders. My study eschews that perception and instead starts
with the important role that borders, visas, immigration policies, and tem-
ity
porary and permanent residency programs play in the ability for some to
become transmigrants at all. The H-1B program is an example of one such
rs
bureaucratic mechanism: it renders workers as “temporary” but allows them
to apply for a change in immigration status, thereby enabling them to apply
ve
for permanent residency and even citizenship.26 Because of this malleability,
workers do not necessarily resist their liminal classification, as their flexible
ni
status makes them valuable as knowledge workers. Instead, they use the
U
H-1B to pursue a pathway to permanent residency and/or citizenship, and,
along with matrimonial and reproductive strategies, seek to claim belong-
ing in the US, even while knowing that they may not be successful or even
want to settle permanently in the US. The idea of citizenship is therefore
mobilized to ensure a foothold in their host nation, even if workers decide
to repatriate or continue to circulate between India and the US.
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 11 2/15/18 10:31 AM
12 I n t roduc t ion
While citizenship has been conceptualized as a conduit to claiming
rights in a polity, as a social category, as a process, and as a juridical forma-
tion, I underscore the ways in which it is mobilized to create circuits of move-
ment that have repercussions for future generations.27 As Aihwa Ong argued
in her classic elucidation of flexible citizenship among wealthy migrants
from Hong Kong, it is also a tool to be deployed in order to propel certain
forms of migration and relocation.28 Though the transmigrants in my study
ss
are less elite than those in Ong’s sample and instead are part of a profes-
sional migrating middle class, they nonetheless seek US citizenship in order
e
to claim better opportunities in the global labor market, facilitate travel and
Pr
future movement, and ensure their children’s ability to study or work in the
US.29 For those who return to India, US citizenship also helps transmigrants
negotiate higher ex-patriot salaries and maintain links to employment
on
opportunities abroad. The long path to citizenship, however, leaves many
in a transitory state.30 Taking a historical approach, Lisong Liu has profiled
t
ng
a similar trend among Chinese professionals who seek to create trans
national ties through family and citizenship strategies.31 Chinese migrants
pursue a “one family, two systems” strategy, where men retain their natal
hi
citizenship and return to the homeland regularly in order to maintain resi-
as
dency, while women remain in the US, where they apply for citizenship and
care for children born abroad. Among the Indian transmigrants profiled
W
here, the household is rarely divided in such a manner; instead, women opt
to move to the US as dependent spouses with the hope of moving into the
formal labor market. Rather than engage in divided or staged migration,
of
Indian transmigrants use temporary worker programs to facilitate the
movement of additional family members, which has the effect of turning
ity
the entire household into a migratory unit.
At the same time, citizenship allows transmigrants to recode their inse-
rs
cure positions vis-à-vis racial and national hierarchies in the global IT indus-
try and their displacement from the Indian national context as a benefit.
ve
Scholars have argued that the desire of migrants to maintain links with the
home nation-state creates new hybrid, transcultural, or hyphenated identities
ni
and underscores the dualistic nature of migrant identity.32 My analysis chal-
U
lenges such dualism and is instead informed by the ways in which transmi-
gration, as Julie Chu argues, is indicative of “a world where neither locality
nor home could be assumed to be stable objects and points of anchorage.”33
I show how transmigrants move beyond a dyadic focus on going abroad and
returning, and are driven by aspirations for mobility and circulation. I argue
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G e n de r , T r a n s m ig r at ion, a n d C i t i z e n s h i p 13
that transmigrants act as bridge builders who view their time abroad as a
way to develop skills that will translate into better career opportunities per-
sonally, and also as a way to “give back” to the Indian state’s development
and modernization efforts.34 This sensibility travels with some transmigrants
when they shift into the role of the “returnee” who decides to move back to
India. I trace how these practices of bridge building help transmigrants posi-
tion themselves across multiple locations as ideal citizen-subjects through
ss
the logics of neoliberalism, self-governance, and entrepreneurialism.
e
Pr
Circuits of Ethnogr aphy
This book begins in King County, Washington, where many technology
transmigrants work and reside. King County encompasses Seattle and its
on
suburbs (a region colloquially called the “Eastside”). Historically, Indians
have concentrated on the Eastern Seaboard, in Southern California, and in
t
ng
midwestern metropolises, but the growing opportunities in the technology
sectors in Northern California and Washington State have drawn many
westward. Though the Pacific Northwest is home to an established and mul-
hi
tigenerational South Asian population that began with the settlement of
as
Punjabi migrants in the 1890s and expanded after 1965, the region is rela-
tively understudied in accounts of Indian immigration and the US technol-
W
ogy industry. In contrast, the influence of Indian IT workers in Santa Clara
County, which includes the infamous “Silicon Valley,” has been well docu-
mented. 35 Between 2000 and 2010, the Indian population grew there by
of
68 percent. In Cupertino alone, which is host to Apple and over sixty other
high-tech firms, Indians make up 22.6 percent of the population, compared
ity
to 0.9 percent nationally.36
Though industry growth was historically less prolific in the Pacific North-
rs
west, the region has become a major technology hub in the past thirty years.
Long associated with the aviation industry, thanks to the Boeing Company,
ve
Seattle and its suburbs were transformed from an ancillary to a major tech-
nology player after the founding of the Microsoft Corporation in 1975 in
ni
Redmond, Washington. Early on, Microsoft began recruiting students from
U
Indian universities who were skilled in engineering, computer science, and
information technology. 37 Today, Boeing and Microsoft are the top two
largest employers in the county, and both continue to draw Indian workers
to the region.38 King County also hosts several other major high-tech firms,
such as Amazon, and branch offices of Indian-owned contract firms, such
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 13 2/15/18 10:31 AM
14 I n t roduc t ion
as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and Aditi, all of which supply Indian
workers directly to American companies.
So who are these new Indian transmigrants? For the most part, this
temporary labor force is made up of young men between twenty and forty
years old: it is estimated that almost 85 percent of all H-1B visas go to men
in this age bracket.39 When traveling through the Eastside, one is immedi-
ately struck by the groups of Indian men walking to bus stops from which
ss
they will be shuttled to various technology campuses. Many proudly display
plastic-encased lanyards with dark badges that designate full-time employee
e
status, while others wear brightly colored badges that reflect their work as
Pr
contractors. The Indian men who dominate the IT landscape are ubiquitous
along the roadways and commercial centers. So, too, are young kurta- and
jeans-clad women who shuffle up and down the wide suburban sidewalks,
on
with some displaying badges and others pushing strollers or carrying gro-
cery bags.
t
ng
From April 2008 to June 2010, and then again for two months in the sum-
mer of 2015, I conducted official open-ended interviews with fifty-five such
transmigrants (thirty-six women and nineteen men).40 These individuals
hi
came to the United States initially as (1) students enrolled in undergraduate
as
or graduate programs; (2) workers who were directly issued temporary work
permits; or (3) as spouses on H-4 visas. At the time of our meetings, study
W
participants had been living in the US anywhere between six months to ten
years. All participants had at least a bachelor’s degree in a technical field, and
many also held master’s or doctoral degrees, as well as other certifications
of
and diplomas. The majority of my informants hailed from the southern
Indian cities of Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, as well as Delhi, Mum-
ity
bai, and Pune. The South Indian arrivals spoke Tamil, Kannada, and Telegu
and were considered relatively new among the North India–dominated
rs
Seattle community. Though there was regional diversity among my partici-
pants, almost all came from upper-caste Hindu, English-medium educated,
ve
and middle-class backgrounds and were already part of networks of friends
and family members that had traveled abroad for school or work.41 Each
ni
participant in my study had successfully navigated the US immigration sys-
U
tem, and many had shifted from holding H-1B/H-4 visas to acquiring green
cards, while some had even become citizens. Undoubtedly, the voices of indi-
viduals who lack such clear class and caste advantage are missing in this
account and remain a vital area for future consideration.
In addition to formal interviews, I spent time participating in various
community functions, such as cultural, activist, and arts events, informal
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 14 2/15/18 10:31 AM
G e n de r , T r a n s m ig r at ion, a n d C i t i z e n s h i p 15
dinner parties at private homes, and smaller gatherings at coffee shops,
restaurants, or pubs. I conducted many of my interviews on the campuses
of Microsoft, Amazon, or other technology companies, as well. These cor-
porate spaces were key locations for connecting to H-1B workers as almost
all host internal company Listservs for temporary workers and also regu-
larly sponsor Indian concerts, dance performances, intramural sports
events such as cricket and soccer, and other events and activities. I tapped
ss
into these virtual and in-person communities by circulating my study
announcement on Indian-community-specific company Listservs, message
e
boards, and through word-of-mouth referrals.
Pr
While my focus was initially on the Pacific Northwest, during the course
of my study, I found that some transmigrants were preparing to return to
India or had decided to move back in the time that I got to know them. From
on
January to April 2009 and in January 2013, I interviewed thirty-five former
H-1B and H-4 visa holders who had returned to India (or, as is it often
t
ng
phrased, made the “R2I”). While in India, I interviewed “returnees” who
resided in neighborhoods that service the high-tech industries in Bangalore
and Hyderabad. Most had not actually lived in the Indian cities to which
hi
they had moved “back,” so they occupied a hybrid space between trans-
as
migrant and local resident. My initial contacts were either relatives or close
friends of Seattle-based transmigrants, and many of them had lived in the
W
same Eastside neighborhoods or worked on the same teams before moving
to India. Through these meetings, I was drawn into the social life of a mid-
sized housing complex situated on the outskirts of Bangalore’s city center,
of
part of the growing suburbs that are especially appealing to returnees and
other residents working in the city’s technology industries. Located near
ity
the better-known neighborhood of Whitefield, I met with “Lake View” resi-
dents in their spacious homes and soon familiarized myself with the gated
rs
community and surrounding areas.42
I traveled next to Hyderabad, where I connected with the extended rela-
ve
tives of Lake View residents. I spent time in a similar housing complex
called “Mountain Meadows,” which was located in the “IT suburb” of
ni
Gachibowli a few kilometers from the Microsoft India Development Center
U
campus and other technology firms, such as Infosys, Wipro, and Computer
Associates. This area is also home to the sprawling steel- and glass-enclosed
campuses of several research and educational institutions and is part of the
city’s “Knowledge Corridor.” It has experienced skyrocketing land prices
and real estate development as the wealth from the technology industry has
transformed the region. The majority of my participants in India were
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 15 2/15/18 10:31 AM
16 I n t roduc t ion
women and men between the ages of thirty and forty-five years old. At the
time of our meetings, most had returned to India within the previous six
months to five years. Spending hours in individual homes, as well as in
common spaces such as community clubhouses and playgrounds, I gained
insight into how transnational households are reproduced across borders.
In addition to ethnographic narratives, I examined images and repre-
sentations of Indian temporary migrant workers in media stories, policy
ss
reports, and congressional debates over immigration reform. I also drew
on blogs, online message forums, and social media sites such as Facebook,
e
which offered decentralized and firsthand user-generated accounts of the
Pr
migration experience.43 These sites were of particular importance for women
seeking pragmatic advice on legal issues related to the H-4 visa, translating
job skills from India to the US, looking for tips on cooking Indian food with
on
American ingredients, raising children abroad, moving back to India, and
coping with the experience of being a house-bound wife. Covering issues
t
ng
from the mundane to the political, blogs and social media offered a glimpse
into the social and professional worlds of individuals within this transna-
tional class.
hi
Grounded in this evidence, I start in chapter 1 by exploring how trans-
as
migrants position their work in American IT industries as valuable and
necessary, even as they are the subjects of intense national debate over tem-
W
porary worker programs. In doing so, workers recode their precariousness
as advantage, and, through their professional work and their volunteer
activities, position themselves as appropriate bridge builders between the
of
presumptive modern/liberal US and backward/illiberal India. In chapter 2,
I demonstrate how transmigration not only informs notions of citizenship
ity
and national belonging but also shapes life events for Indian IT workers.
For the smaller numbers of women arriving on the H-1B visa, migration
rs
provides a space for personal development and, in some cases, contributes
to their ability to remain single in the absence of their Indian kinship net-
ve
works. At the same time, for both women and men, time spent on the H-1B
increases their desirability on the Indian marriage market, due to the pre-
ni
sumed boost in status that accompanies living and working in the US,
U
though these effects are contradictory and gendered. Transmigration also
offers individuals the opportunity to start families with mixed citizenship
status, as children of temporary workers can now claim US citizenship and
offer a link to future migrations. Consequently, transmigrants strategically
use the H-1B to create transnational connections through heterosexual
F.Bhatt, High-Tech Housewives.indd 16 2/15/18 10:31 AM
G e n de r , T r a n s m ig r at ion, a n d C i t i z e n s h i p 17
marriage, reproduction, and social networks that can be mobilized regard-
less of their desire or ability to remain permanently in the US.
I then shift to the household to examine the experiences of women who
must contend with immigration and return. In chapter 3, I show how the
transnational household emerges as a site constituted through patriarchal
assumptions and contradictory discourses about the Indian family and
Indian culture. As dependent spouses, women on the H-4 visa negotiate
ss
their economic disempowerment by occupying the role of transnational
housewives, though not necessarily by choice. Many turn to the domestic
e
sphere to create new channels for personal development and self-expression,
Pr
while also grappling with deep challenges to their identities as educated,
modern women with potential for launching careers of their own. While
some women embrace their reproductive roles, others resist their classi-
on
fication as wives and mothers and continue to pursue avenues for profes-
sional fulfillment. In chapter 4, I follow transmigrants through the process
t
ng
of return migration. As transnational housewives, women are central to this
repatriation. Once back in India, they are almost exclusively in charge of
setting up and running households in new housing developments, where
hi
they seek to emulate life in the US suburbs while relying on Indian domestic
as
workers and household staff. Their daily engagements are simultaneously
linked to the production of the transnational household, as well as to gender,
W
class, and national identity.
In chapter 5, I demonstrate how returning to India is not the end of the
circuit for transmigrants, per se. For some prodigal sons and daughters who
of
receive a warm welcome, returning to India represents a positive shift away
from US immigration bureaucracies, cultural incompatibilities, and xeno-
ity
phobia. For others, the move back is short-lived, as work differences, family
pressures, and concerns about future opportunities for their children leave
rs
them disappointed with their decision. Due in part to the challenges return-
ees encounter and the pull of their previously established networks abroad,
ve
some seek to “re-return” to the US, thereby creating another set of displace-
ments. I conclude the book by offering a consideration of how circulation
ni
operates as a state of being for transmigrants and has implications for future
U
