Tanja Visic is going to present a working paper on '“Making a place to make it work”: “Motility” and Gendered Work Cultures'

Based on an ethnographic study on motility and gendered work cultures, the paper sheds light on Serbian female domestic workers who commute (in the three months visa regime) between Germany and Serbia in order to perform care and domestic in the private households. The paper brings together the specific characteristics of irregular work and regular circular migration highlighting the specific position of Serbian care workers in German informal care market and necessity of better qualitative understanding of multiplicity of dimensions of social reality that shape migrant worker’s experiences and lives apart from gender – age, nationality, religion, different social and educational background and geopolitical location. Using the concept of “motility” – ability to move, paper explores individuals' capacities and skills that either directly or indirectly influence physical mobility, knowledge or the recognition for the need of knowledge on how to cross border and how to stay mobile which redirects our attention to the aspirations and lives of women who, despite myriad impediments, move between German cities and their home communities. The analysis of in-depth interviews shows that strategies these women use to be able to move for work (for example, building a socil networks, gaining a new skills, acquiring a knowledge about movement regulations, etc.) are a basis for understanding of women’s decisions and opportunities to move, as these constitute their everyday experiences and practices which are not marked only by risks but also by personal transformations.