Women, Identity and India's Call Centre Industry

Front Cover
Taylor & Francis, Apr 30, 2009 - Political Science - 16 pages

This book examines the concept of globalised identities and the way in which agency is exercised over identity construction by women working in India’s transnational call centre industry.

Drawing on qualitative empirical data and extensive original fieldwork, the book provides a nuanced analysis of the experiences of Indian women call centre workers and the role of women’s participation in the global labour market. The author uses social, cultural, and historical factors to create a framework for examining the processes of identity construction. Within this framework, the book explores the impact of the call centre labour process on the social landscape of urban centres in India and the way in which this has impacted upon transformations and shifts in society with relation to gendered, sexual, and generational relationships. Highlighting the significance of identity in a globalised world, the author argues that identity acts as one of the most powerful constructs in transforming global ‘scapes’ and flows of culture and economics.

This book will be of interest to academics working on South Asia, gender and labour studies and issues of globalization, identity and social change.

About the author (2009)

J.K. Tina Basi holds a PhD in Gender Studies and Sociology from the University
of Leeds. Previously a freelance ethnographic researcher with Intel’s Digital
Health Group in Ireland, she has also established a consultancy, Mehfil
Enterprise, conducting corporate ethnography in media and technology related
industries. She is currently working on a new ethnographic research project about spirituality.

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