'We also have lives, you know'

Abstract

Using a multimodal discursive approach supplemented with semi-structured interviews, this article analyses the identity work of Hong Kong-based Filipina labour migrants on social media. The study is premised on the representational potential of these media forms to circulate ideas that either challenge or reinforce dominant notions of migrant life. The intersections of gender, race and class in the participants’ discourses are salient as they attempt to make sense of their lives in the host city through online signifying affordances. Further, a desire to differentiate themselves from dominant notions of being a Filipino woman in Hong Kong is prominent, illustrating the need to interrogate limiting and oppressive characterisations of migrants that are emplaced in both online and offline realities.