Description
Book SynopsisSuitable for scholars and students in a range of disciplines, including anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, women's studies, political economy, and Caribbean studies, as well as labour and postcolonial studies, this book presents an ethnography of globalisation positioned at the intersection between political economy and cultural studies.
Trade Review“
High Tech and High Heels is a treasure trove. Freeman is among a handful of truly original thinkers in the field of social anthropology and she has produced in this book a major contribution to our understanding of the fluid relationship between gender, social class, and culture.”—Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, Princeton University
“Freeman helps us understand how new forms of labor power are being tapped in old places. This is a penetrating demonstration of the genuine relevance of anthropology to the modern world. It also shows us in what ways change and persistence are subtly interwoven, in a world that is not quite so new as others tell us.”—Sidney Mintz, Johns Hopkins University
“What Freeman’s innovative investigation of Barbadian women data-entry workers reveals is that cultural processes—globalization, identity(ies), constructions, consumerism—are informed in no small part by the ways in which paid labor is structured—and restructured. She alerts us to phenomena that should shake us out of our all-too-comfortable dichotomizing habits.”—Cynthia Enloe, Clark University
Table of ContentsList of tables, maps, and figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
1. Introduction 1
2. Pink-Collar Bajans: Working Class through Gender and Culture on the Global Assembly Line 21
3. Localizing Informatics: Situating Women and Work in Barbados 66
4. Myths of Docile Girls and Matriarchs: Local Profiles of Global Workers 102
5. Inside Multitext and Data Air: Discipline and Agency in the "Open Office" 140
6. Fashioning Femininity and "Professional" Identities: Producing and Consuming Across Formal and Informal Sectors 213
7. Epilogue 253
Notes 263
Bibliography 293
Index 323
