Neoliberal capitalism’s distortions of love: The “Filipina bride” trope in the contemporary Philippine diaspora of Japan

Abstract

This thesis explores the intersections of migration, gender, and neoliberalism through a multimodal ethnography conducted in two distinct but intertwined spaces: a rural Japanese community of migrant Filipinos and the digital sphere of YouTube, where Filipina wives in Japan document their lives through diary-style video blogs. By analyzing both the lived experiences of migrant Filipina women in Japan and their online narratives, this research critically engages with the conflation of the terms "Filipina-Japanese intermarriage" and "Filipina wives / brides" as bad objects within Achille Mbembe’s necropolitical framework. This conflation, as examined in the context of both the local community and the digital space, reveals the structural violence and racialized gendered discourses surrounding these women. This thesis critiques how these discourses are shaped by postfeminist ideologies, which often mask the realities of inequality and exploitation under the guise of empowerment, and how neoliberalism has transformed the institution of marriage into a commodified, transactional arrangement for women hailing from the Global South more than other regions. Furthermore, drawing on Neferti Tadiar’s concept of remaindered life, the thesis contends that Filipina wives’ experiences are often relegated to the margins of both Japanese society and feminist discourse, reinforcing their status as polarized subjects. Through this examination, the research not only contributes to scholarship on migration, gender, and neoliberalism but also pushes for a re-evaluation of the ways in which the intersection of race, gender, and class impacts the lived realities of migrant women in contemporary globalized contexts.