Anthropologies of Unemployment: New Perspectives on Work and Its Absence PDF
Preview Anthropologies of Unemployment: New Perspectives on Work and Its Absence
ANTHROPOLOGIES OF UNEMPLOYMENT ANTHROPOLOGIES OF UNEMPLOYMENT New Perspectives on Work and Its Absence Edited by Jong Bum Kwon and Carrie M. Lane ILR PRESS AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Copyright © 2016 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2016 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2016 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kwon, Jong Bum, 1971– editor. | Lane, Carrie M., 1974– editor. | Container of (work): Lane, Carrie M., 1974– Limits of liminality. Title: Anthropologies of unemployment : new perspectives on work and its absence / edited by Jong Bum Kwon and Carrie M. Lane. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016016169 ISBN 9781501704659 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 9781501704666 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Unemployment—Social aspects. | Unemployed—Social conditions. | Economic anthropology. Classification: LCC HD5708 .A58 2016 | DDC 331.13/7—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016016169 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cover design: Scott Levine. This book is dedicated to all people engaged in the daily work of producing meaning, community, security, and livelihood. Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Jong Bum Kwon and Carrie M. Lane 1. The Limits of Liminality: Anthropological Approaches to Unemployment in the United States 18 Carrie M. Lane 2. The Limits to Quantitative Thinking: Engaging Economics on the Unemployed 34 David Karjanen 3. Occupation 53 Jong Bum Kwon 4. The Rise of the Precariat? Unemployment and Social Identity in a French Outer City 71 John P. Murphy 5. Contesting Unemployment: The Case of the Cirujas in Buenos Aires 97 Mariano D. Perelman 6. Zones of In/Visibility: Commodification of Rural Unemployment in South Carolina 118 Ann E. Kingsolver 7. Youth Unemployment, Progress, and Shame in Urban Ethiopia 135 Daniel Mains 8. Labor on the Move: Kinship, Social Networks, and Precarious Work among Mexican Migrants 155 Frances Abrahamer Rothstein 9. Positive Thinking about Being Out of Work in Southern California after the Great Recession 171 Claudia Strauss 10. The Unemployed Cooperative: Community Responses to Joblessness in Nicaragua 191 Josh Fisher vii viii CONTENTS Epilogue: Rethinking the Value of Work and Unemployment 212 Caitrin Lynch and Daniel Mains Notes 229 Bibliography 241 Notes on Contributors 265 Index 269 Acknowledgments This volume exists because countless people in more than half a dozen countries agreed to share their thoughts and stories with the anthropologists whose work is featured herein. Those people are the protagonists of this book, and it is they who give it whatever heart and import it possesses. We are grateful to them for their trust and candor. We hope that we have lived up to the task of representing their perspectives and experiences as accurately as possible within these pages. The editors would also like to thank our wonderful team of contributors, whose creativity and collegiality made this project a pleasure from start to fin- ish. This book is the result of many conversations and shared meals, and it has been a joy to get to know you all, as scholars and as people, throughout this long process. We are grateful to the Society for the Anthropology of Work for sponsoring the original American Anthropological Association conference ses- sion on which this volume is based. We also thank the panelists, discussants, and audience members whose contributions enlivened that session and inspired us to compile this volume. Fran Benson provided unflagging support and encouragement from the first moment we told her of our plans to assemble this volume. We are grateful to her and to the editorial and design teams at Cornell University Press, as well as an anonymous reviewer, who helped shepherd this manuscript to its published form. The editors thank our universities—Webster University and California State University, Fullerton—for providing grants and other resources that helped sup- port us during the preparation of this volume. We are also grateful to the many colleagues and friends who encouraged us onward as we tackled each phase of this process. Thanks especially to Caitrin Lynch for her excellent advice on our introductory chapter. Carrie Lane would like to thank Matt Sterling for remind- ing her that life is much bigger than work, and Frank Sterling for taking really long naps that allowed her to work on this volume. Jong Bum Kwon would like to thank Elaine Cha for her unwavering faith. He would also like to express his gratitude to Dr. Laurel Kendall, who has patiently guided his work, and to his mentor Dr. Owen Lynch, whose care was invaluable to his becoming a working anthropologist. ix
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