The geographical imaginations and mobilities of Filipino nurses : an exploration of global therapeutic networks in Metro Manila, the Philippines

Abstract

This thesis challenges the commonheld notion that being a Filipino nurse involves an aspiration to migrate to the global north. I analyse how women and men negotiate, interpret, and resist the pressures of migration, engaging in new mobilities within the Philippines and beyond. Drawing on Global Care Chain thinking and the mobilities paradigm, I call for an orientation towards Global Therapeutic Networks (GTNs) to better explain the complex, multiple, and varied experiences of those involved in global transfers of care. I adopt and develop the geographical imaginations approach to examine and understand the agentic decision-making practices undertaken by nurses within larger GTN pressures. Focusing on the experiences of nurse students and graduates living in Metro Manila, rather than overseas, brings light to the hidden stories of those involved in the global circulation of care who do not migrate. Drawing on 48 interviews and 39 mental maps with nurse graduates and students, I examine four key areas. Initially, I explore how young women and men are drawn into nursing education in the Philippines, examining the intersections of nursing, overseas migration, therapeutics, and socioeconomic mobility. Secondly, I explore how participants understand what it means to be a Filipino nurse in the context of global healthcare circulations. I demonstrate expectations of exploitation are largely accepted by nurses, regardless of migratory desire. Thirdly, I turn to employment experiences, focusing on volunteerism, ‘call centre nursing’, and entrepreneurship. I explore novel mobilities nurses engage in to achieve the goals of migration without leaving the Philippines. Finally, I examine the geographical imaginations and migratory intentions and aspirations of nurses. I draw attention to the importance of sociocultural mobility as a deciding factor in decisions to migrate, and of where to migrate to. I contribute to wider debates on global circulations of healthcare and migration decision-making approaches.