As Taiwan’s demand for secondary labor has surged in recent years, a large number of migrant workers has come to Taiwan. The various survival challenges faced by these workers have frequently been a topic of concern in literature and sociology. Given Taiwan's geographical context, surrounded by the sea, literary journalism and ethnographies focusing on the life experiences of transnational fish workers are particularly significant. J.W. Henley (1982-), a Canadian writer residing in Taiwan, is one of the few authors who writes novels featuring Taiwanese Filipino fish workers as protagonists. This article uses Henley’s novel Migrante (2020; 2022) as a case study to explore how foreign writers perceive Taiwan’s transnational fish workers. It further analyzes how the writer re-presents the image of Filipino fish workers in Taiwan and the challenges they encounter. Additionally, it focuses on how “We” (Taiwanese and foreigners in Taiwan, including intellectuals) confront the necessity and difficulty of articulating the experiences of “Them” (migrant workers of Southeast Asian origin).
The novel exposes the plight of “silent” fish workers in the workplace, highlighting how the lives of fish workers aboard fishing boats are politically and culturally marginalized by national laws and social norms, presenting a “bare life” perspective. This essay investigates three research questions: (1) In Henley’s writing, how does the novel portray the lives of transnational fishers and the dilemmas the writer may face when articulating “Them”? (2) How do the lives/bodies of migrant workers connect with the space of fishing boats, demonstrating a state of exception? (3) How does Henley connect to the “bare life” of migrant workers through the image of the “nameless dead” in the novel?
This article argues that Henley employs the concept of the “nameless dead” to illustrate the experiences of Taiwan’s transnational fish workers. The “nameless
dead,” as a living entity stripped of the right to be named, is deprived of any rights
associated with “life.” The author uses this imagery to re-present the life attitudes of
transnational fish workers. Simultaneously, the novel also highlights the limitations
and challenges faced by “We” in speaking out for “Them.”
