"Keeping your seat warm": the role of seafarers’ wives in the maintenance of social status and societal place

Sampson, Helen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5857-9452 and Acejo, Iris 2016. "Keeping your seat warm": the role of seafarers’ wives in the maintenance of social status and societal place. Xu, Qingwen and Jordan, Lucy, eds. Migrant Workers: Social Identity, Occupational Challenges and Health Practices, New York: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 137-153.

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Abstract

This chapter considers the role of seafarers’ wives in protecting the social identity of migrant seafarers within their home communities via the use of both ‘kin work’ and ‘status work.’ As a significant group of migrant workers who regularly return to the Philippines (usually annually) seafarers rely on their family members to maintain social relationships and social status in their absence. Communications between vessels and the shore are limited and whilst seafarers are at sea their wives, in particular, stand in for them in a variety of social roles. These range from making loans and charitable donations, to maintaining links with godchildren and extended family members. The chapter considers this under-explored aspect of migrant social identity drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a town in the Philippines and on board a cargo vessel.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Research Institutes & Centres > Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Publisher:	Nova Science Publishers
ISBN:	9781634852722
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	12 March 2026
Last Modified:	12 Mar 2026 10:14
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/87071

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