Gender, language, & global processes

[Amy Sheldon]

  Are you interested in the caller's experience/perception and in  
cultural trouble spots that arise as the interaction unfolds, or just  
in the call center worker's English language proficiency?
Amy

On Feb 6, 2006, at 3:40 PM, Barbara LeMaster wrote:

> Please be sure to share the responses with all of us.  I am working  
> in this area, too, and am interested.
>
> Barbara
>
> On Feb 6, 2006, at 11:53 AM, Niko Besnier wrote:
>
>> Dear all
>>
>> I want to initiate a new thread on the topic of gender, language,  
>> & global processes.  The self-serving reason being that I am  
>> working on my little contribution for the first issue of our  
>> journal, Gender & Language, focusing on this topic.  If you  
>> remember, the articles in the first issue focus on important and  
>> under-explored issues in language & gender, so that's the  
>> background I'm working with.  Under the label "global processes" I  
>> want to include transnationalism in its different forms (e.g.,  
>> migrations, remittances, seasonal labour, multiple allegiances),  
>> as well as more canonical global processes.  I also want to  
>> emphasize the local experience of global processes, e.g., that of  
>> call-center workers in Bangalore who are expected to learn  
>> American or British accents as a condition for employment in the  
>> global service industry, even though they may never have the first- 
>> hand experience of moving.
>>
>> As you may know, anthropologists have long been concerned with  
>> these processes and experiences, but linguistic anthropologists  
>> and sociolinguists have been slower at catching on to the wealth  
>> of insights that one can gain about (a) gender, (b) language, and  
>> (c) globality from a focus on the intersection of the three.
>>
>> What works have you found useful at this intersection?
>>
>> Looking forward to hearing about works I may not know.
>>
>> Niko
>>
>> Niko Besnier
>> Professor of Cultural Anthropology, University of Amsterdam
>> Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
>>
> *****************************************************
> Dr. Barbara LeMaster
> Professor
> Departments of Anthropology and Linguistics
> FO3-320
> California State University, Long Beach
> 1250 Bellflower Boulevard
> Long Beach, CA 90840
> (562) 985-5037
> (562) 985-4379 (fax)
> lemaster at csulb.edu
> ***************************************************