When
Talk Title: "Book Forum: A Conversation about Lives on the Line"
Zoom link: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/87646774686
Zoom password: center
Please find an abstract of the brownbag below:
Jeff Sallaz's 2019 book Lives on the Line (Oxford UP) is a global ethnography conducted in line with the extended case method tradition. It poses a puzzle: how did the Philippines, a poor nation in southeast Asia, become the preferred locale from which to "source voices” for the global call center industry? Commencing from the lived experiences of call center workers in different countries, the analysis extends out to account for the role of firms, states, and workers in assembling this global labor market. (Historical sources, government data, existing ethnographic work, and other forms of data were key to these extensions). In the end, Sallaz identifies a unique affinity between US firms and Filipina/o workers, symbolized by low attrition rates. Filipina “breadwinners” and gay urban “socialites” in particular make up a disproportionate share of call center workers; Sallaz shows how they strategically use call center work to navigate various dilemmas and predicaments in their lives. Lives on the Line received the honorable mention for the ASA’s 2020 Max Weber Book Award. Following a brief presentation of the book’s key points by Jeff, Corey Abramson will provide commentary and moderate an extended Q&A session.
As a special feature, Jeff is circulating the book's first chapter, along with this note and invitation:
"Here is the first chapter of Lives on the Line: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1kb4z1ak0l2ivv8/Sallaz_Lives_on_the_Line_CH1.pdf?dl=0. I experimented a bit in writing it. Rather than a standard academic introduction, it is a collection of ethnographic vignettes and photographs which, when absorbed sequentially, convey the entire argument of the book. I hope folks have a chance to give it a read prior to the brownbag. -Jeff"