ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter I demonstrated that in dominant discourse the rural migrant is most commonly objectified as either a backward, low-quality outsider to be blamed and shunned or a naive, helpless victim to be pitied and fetishized. In the few instances in which she is portrayed as a model agent, rather than a victim, it is because, through self-sacrifice and “self-development,” she has turned herself into an object of exploitation, putting her body on the line for the market economy.
