Most scholars have rightly treated the loss of dependable waged labour as a site of debilitation and dispossession. In this field-based research project, I seek to go beyond the framework of loss, and to theorize these contexts as generative of new social fields and political forms. Research questions include: What happens when dependable work disappears and it’s not coming back? What are the various ways in which people then seek social incorporation, and under what conditions is it achieved or denied? What is the role of history and collective struggle in shaping these conditions?
Impact
This project has helped to identify and analyze the emergence of newly potent social forms under conditions of mass unemployment, as well as the possibilities and limits of new forms of syndical political activism. Also, through engagement and collaboration with colleagues in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it has provided valuable data for understanding the changing political and labor landscape in that country.
Student Experience
Most directly, this project enabled one graduate student to gain valuable training in ethnographic research methods by accompanying the principal investigator into the field for four weeks. It has also allowed the principal investigator to add a comparative perspective to the changing world of work in Canada. And as with all research, it has contributed to the development of new courses and the revision of existing courses.
Countries
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Impact
Research, Education
Institutional Partner(s)
Community Partner(s)
Industry Partner(s)
Key Outcomes
Publications
Sponsorship
Federal
Sponsorship Details
This project was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 430-2015-01123].
