Ethnographic moment in time

On the way to my car I introduced myself to the new neighbor. She stood in her doorway alongside a Latin American woman who held a soapy cleaning brush. A tan Rottweiler lounged on the driveway nearby. “Welcome to the neighborhood. I’m Ann.” “Oh hi, I’m Karen, and this is Lulu.” “Nice to meet you. What’s your dog’s name?” I asked. “Lulu,” she repeated. (October, 2006, Manhattan Beach, CA).

This ethnographic moment helps illustrate the invisibility experienced by Latina household workers in Southern California. Latina women immigrants have become one of the fastest growing migrant populations in the United States in recent decades, and domestic service–and particularly childcare–is an area in which they concentrate. Though a growing but still small number of studies have examined these workers’ motives and experiences, not enough is known about female employers’ motives for hiring “nannies,” and employer-employee relationships.