Le visage indien de la domesticité. Domesticité à demeure et ethnicité à Monterrey, Mexique

In this article I analyze the importance of ethnicity in domestic service, an employment sector where indigenous people are overrepresented, and how socio-cultural differences between ethnic groups organize the labor market and relationships between employers and employees. Taking the city of Monterrey ? the third largest city in Mexico ? as an ethnographic setting and based on interviews conducted with employers and employment agencies, I analyze the importance that employers attribute to regional and ethnic origin to assess a priori the capacity of domestic staff for work. The study shows that the representations inherent in this classificatory exercise contribute to the ethnicization of socio-cultural networks and to the reaffirmation of the boundaries between domestic workers and those they serve, between indigenous people and Creoles, the founding couple of Mexican national identity.