Scales of Autonomy: The Body, the Domestic Space, the Digital Space

The chapter offers a micro-geographical and -political interpretation of “migrant autonomy in tension,” focusing on the micro-geographies of power and the embedding of migrant political subjectivities within specific spatial contexts. Embracing a feminist geography approach, it considers space as a relational concept shaped by multi-scalar processes, from individual bodies to the potentially global reach of the Internet. The narrative underscores the dynamic interplay between places and scales in the formation of migrant intersectional subjectivities. In the quest for autonomy, the women encountered in this study project themselves onto two distinct scales—the digital space and the body—through aesthetic practices related to beauty and care and kinaesthetic activities encompassing dance and singing. The chapter provides an intricate exploration of these two scales, revealing how margins can transform into spaces of healing, recovery, humour, desire, subversion, negotiation, and micro-political tactics. In essence, these margins open up new horizons for women, fostering a reparative relational experience that transcends their constrained circumstances.