Beatrice Quarshie Smith

Reading and Writing in the Global Workplace (eBook, ePUB)

Gender, Literacy, and Outsourcing in Ghana

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Reading and Writing in the Global Workplace: Gender, Literacy, and Outsourcing in Ghana by Beatrice Quarshie Smithexplores the conditions that underlie the outsourcing of US data-processing work in Ghana. Here Beatrice Quarshie Smith describes the convergence and interplay of at least four different socio-economic forces: (1) the digital and satellite technology enabling virtual environments for global outsourced data-processing; (2) the historical development of Ghana as a politically-stable Anglophone society with a relatively strong tradition of public education; (3) the neoliberal economic restructuring policies advanced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; and (4) the ready availability of women seeking to enter the formal wage economy either to seek independence from their roles within traditional families, or in order to support their families. The author's comparative study of two distinctly different workplaces reveals significant insights about problems of organizational hierarchy and management-employee relations in the cross-cultural environments of out-sourced business and IT process work. Through extensive interviews, the book sheds light on the educational backgrounds, day-to-day struggles, fears, and aspirations of the workers. Quarshie Smith develops this multi-faceted analysis with keen insights into the representational limitations and ethical responsibilities of the researcher. This pioneering study about outsourced data-processing work in West Africa opens up a new area for research and offers a fresh perspective from which to consider outsourcing in other regions of the globe.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks US
• Seitenzahl: 210
• Erscheinungstermin: 14. Juni 2012
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780739137864
• Artikelnr.: 38223202

Autorenporträt

By Beatrice Quarshie Smith

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgments List of Tables Acronyms Part One: Preface and Background
Preface: Gender, Biography, and the Researcher: Locating the "Self" in the
Study of "New" Workspaces Chapter 1: Gender and Globalizing Processes
"Knowledge" Work and "Development" The Sites, Research Paradigms and the
Issues Workplace Literacies and "New" Work Overview of the Book Chapter 2:
The Ethnographic Context: Ghana Fifty-Five Years after Independence The
Nation State: a Political, Social and Economic Evolution Literacies,
Development and Work The Companies, Management Personnel and Research
Participants Part Two: Gender in the Globalization Debate Chapter 3: Gender
Politics and Women in Ghana: A Short "Herstory" Women and Education Women
and Work Women and Work in New Times Conclusion: Transnational Feminist
Activism and Cross Border Articulations Chapter 4: Gender, Knowledge and
"New" Work Gender in the Globalization Debate Development, Gender and
Macro/Micro-Analyses of Globalization Feminisms, Politics, Labels and
Discourses on Gender Gender and Neoliberalism Gender, Technology and
Globalizing Processes Gender, Knowledge, and "New" Work Part Three:
Research Practices Chapter 5: Multi-sited Ethnography and Hybrid Spaces
Seeking Entry Empirical Material Collection Designing research Practices
The Field and Fieldwork in "Ethnographic" research Ethnographic Practices
in Hybrid Environments Ethnography and Virtual Work: Other conceptions of
"Field" Methodological Challenges Ethical Tensions in Research in Hybrid
Settings Researching Women's Lives on and off Line Part Four: Literacy
Practices in the "New" Workspaces of the Global South Chapter 6:
Outsourcing as "Glocalization:" Material Practices and Fluid Workspaces The
"Laborscape:" Continuities and Discontinuities in Geographies The Network
and the Transformation of Work Glocalizing/hybridizing Labor Practices:
Shaping Work Cultures Why Outsourcing?: Work, Gender and Identity in the
21st Century Ghana Work, Desire and the Imagination Chapter 7: Literacies
of Outsourcing: "Scapes" and "Flows" of "New" Work Literacy, Self-making
and the Co-construction of Cyber Workers Recruiting Cyber Workers: Aims,
Values, and Realities of Literacies in Use Situated Literacies: Contexts
and Practices Online Literacies Offline Literacies at Work Literacies and
the Negotiation of Asymmetrical Power Relations Part Five: Conclusion-New
Workplace Practices for New Times Chapter 8: The "New" World of Work: Women
and Workplace Literacy Practices-A Social Practice Perspective Education,
Knowledge and Work Implications of Networks Work and the Imagination: Of
"Scapes" and "Flows" Is Globalized Work Empowering for the Women who Work
at CTI and CDN? Policy and Practice: Some Implications Contributions of the
Project Unfinished Business: Workplace Literacy and Globalization
Representation and Legitimization: Nola's Question NOTES APPENDIX: A:
RESEARCH QUESTIONS B: INTERVIEW GUIDE C: LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS D: CONSENT
FORM E: SAMPLE FLOOR PLANS F: SAMPLE KEY WORDS G: SAMPLE PAY STUB
BIBILIOGRAPHY INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR