Precarious Employment Experiences in Toronto: A Literature-Based Visual Ethnography of South Asian Women (SAW) in the Food Service Industry

ABSTRACT: Immigrants are an important part of the global economy as more people leave their birth countries in search of better lives. In the global chain of labor and capitalist market systems, migration and precarious employment have become an inevitable outcome. However, research has shown that the experiences of migration do not always lead to positive outcomes for new immigrants in a new country. The present paper focuses on South Asian women (SAW) in Toronto to explore their experiences as immigrants in a developed country. The study employs literature-based ethnography as its method and a political ecology framework to understand the argument that precarious employment situations create an environment for SAW to become ethnic entrepreneurs, specifically food caterers, in their struggle for survival. The analysis reveals that the desire for freedom and alternative routes for survival after poor experiences in Canada’s labor market is a key factor in SAW’s development as ethnic entrepreneurs. These women weave a network of friends, family, customers, neighbors, emotions, and finances through their domestic skills of food preparation and entrepreneurship. This reveals the facts of an unequal system of aggregation in the city ecology of Toronto. Inspired by Andrew Causey’s (2016) Drawn to See: Drawing as an Ethnographic Method, this paper aims to capture the experience of a day in the life of a new immigrant family. KEYWORDS: South Asian Immigrant Women, Toronto, Food Entrepreneurship, Political Ecology, Ethnography