From the home in the courtroom: When migrant domestic workers mobilize rights

This project examines the unlikely moments when (migrant) domestic workers mobilize rights. By investigating the legal activism of self-organized groups of (migrant) domestic workers, it reveals when and how it is possible to mobilize rights from precarious situations and what such mobilization looks like for these groups. The work employs a qualitative and empirical approach, comparing legal struggles in Argentina, the USA, and Germany. 
The study explores when domestic workers, firstly, organize collectively with other workers in their sector and, secondly, use the law as a means to bring about change. Both steps require the development of problem awareness and actor consciousness (subjectification). Furthermore, there are conditions that can hinder or foster collective and/or legal mobilization. These include windows of opportunity, resources, and the support of existing groups. 
The new groups (grassroots unions) must justify their work to potential members and existing groups (for example, by offering in-demand services like legal advice) and claim their position as representatives for a precarious workforce. These are some of the reasons why law plays a special role in their activism. However, invoking the law always involves a consideration of what a successful labor struggle might look like, what emancipatory potential law holds, and which issues can even be translated into law. This brings into focus the moments of translation from political to legal mobilization (and vice versa), as well as the processing of social demands within the legal sphere. Theories from social movement research and industrial relations, concepts of legal consciousness and access to law, as well as Marxist legal critique and theories of social reproduction are applied.