A culture of informality?: Fragmented solidarities among construction workers in Nepal.
Despite a history of labor militancy in past decades, Nepal's large construction sector remains unorganized and lacks social protection, prompted by high levels of informality. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among construction laborers in Kathmandu, this article argues that labor subsumption to cap...
| Published in: | Focaal no. 93; pp. 75 - 89 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Berghahn Books
2022
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=157739297&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 157739297 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09201297 LSZ jtl: Focaal issn: 09201297 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2022 iid: 93 pid: 1130 pub: Berghahn Books artinfo: ui: 157739297 10.3167/fcl.2021.011103 ppf: 75 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 539KB tig: atl: A culture of informality?: Fragmented solidarities among construction workers in Nepal. aug: au: Hirslund, Dan V. affil: Centre of South-Asian Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark su: Nepal Kathmandu (Nepal) Industrial relations Economic anthropology Culture Construction workers Construction industry sug: subj: Industrial relations Economic anthropology Culture Nepal Kathmandu (Nepal) Residential building construction Construction workers Construction industry keyword: construction labor economic anthropology informal work labor relations political anthropology solidarity status hierarchy union mobilization construction labor economic anthropology informal work labor relations political anthropology solidarity status hierarchy union mobilization ab: Despite a history of labor militancy in past decades, Nepal's large construction sector remains unorganized and lacks social protection, prompted by high levels of informality. Based on ethnographic fieldwork among construction laborers in Kathmandu, this article argues that labor subsumption to capital in the construction industry takes place through a systemization of expertise through which access to work is negotiated. I show how this "culture of informality" shapes labor relations and creates a semblance of transparency and justice in otherwise chaotic and fiercely competitive labor communities. Drawing on concepts from political and urban anthropology to probe how informality indexes forms of power, I argue that authority and status become distributed through processes of distinction and thereby extend and deepen inequalities permeating contemporary industrial relations. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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