A Sargent
Biographic Data
| ID | 70927 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A Sargent |
| GIVEN NAMES | A |
| FAMILY NAME | Sargent |
| SIGNATURE | SARGENT A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Sydney University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0302-5492 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1913 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Beyond extraction
This article draws upon a desk-based review and expert interviews with practitioners in the Global South to understand the diverse forms of data mediation that have become increasingly visible in the wake of the global coronavirus disease-19 pandemic. In contrast to accounts that frame the Global South solely as a site for the extraction of data and cheap, unskilled digital labor, we explore alternative accounts of the ways in which individuals a…
Becoming Time-Bound
In recent years Indian construction firms have come under increasing pressure to present their building projects as 'time-bound'. In industry discourse, time-bound projects smoothly and sequentially hit project deadlines. While such an ideal is never realised in practice, I argue that the temporal politics of 'time-bound' projects lies not in their enactment of a smooth and progressive time but rather in the work of orchestration that binds toget…
Transparent constructions
In the last 30 years global investment in Indian real estate has transformed cities like Delhi. Construction firms attract investors by presenting construction as transparently manifesting vetted architectural plans and agreed upon budgets. This article examines the politics of such performed transparency by focusing on the communicational genres which accompany these urban buildings. The architectural drawing and the contract supported the autho…
Ideologies of Labor and the Consequences of Toil in India’s Construction Industry
This article examines the semiotics of labor through an analysis of a construction skill training program in Delhi. It focuses on recurring struggles between students and administrators over the nature and consequences of the activities they engaged in at the training center. Drawing on the notion of language ideology, it argues that students and administrators invoked different ideologies of labor in framing the value and meaning of productive a…
Sensing defects
This paper explores how professional engineers recognize and make sense of product defects in their everyday work. Such activities form a crucial, if often overlooked, part of professional engineering practice. By detecting, recognizing and repairing defects, engineers contribute to the creation of value and the optimization of production processes. Focusing on early-career engineers in an advanced steel mill in the United States, we demonstrate …
Working against Labor
From the outside, India's urban construction sites appear to be places of toil, yet for workers, the material qualities of particular actions, from carrying bricks to cutting marble, are experienced as either self-affirming work or abject labor. This article explores how construction workers understand and intervene in the meaning of their work. Skilled and semi-skilled workers are particularly attentive to the bodily shifts brought on by work, a…
Between Work and Labor
What Happened to the Wage
Peer-reviewed
Moral Economies of Remuneration
The article tracks the forms and practices of remuneration that structure production in the Indian construction industry. As in other areas, construction in India is characterized by the widespread use of contract labor. Self-described “modern” construction sites, like the one I focus on in this article, present production as being governed by strict piece-rate contracts. Yet, as the article demonstrates, actual processes of production on the sit…
The Sea Road to the East
Working against Labor
From the outside, India's urban construction sites appear to be places of toil, yet for workers, the material qualities of particular actions, from carrying bricks to cutting marble, are experienced as either self-affirming work or abject labor. This article explores how construction workers understand and intervene in the meaning of their work. Skilled and semi-skilled workers are particularly attentive to the bodily shifts brought on by work, a…
Between Work and Labor
Moral Economies of Remuneration
The article tracks the forms and practices of remuneration that structure production in the Indian construction industry. As in other areas, construction in India is characterized by the widespread use of contract labor. Self-described “modern” construction sites, like the one I focus on in this article, present production as being governed by strict piece-rate contracts. Yet, as the article demonstrates, actual processes of production on the sit…
Beyond extraction
This article draws upon a desk-based review and expert interviews with practitioners in the Global South to understand the diverse forms of data mediation that have become increasingly visible in the wake of the global coronavirus disease-19 pandemic. In contrast to accounts that frame the Global South solely as a site for the extraction of data and cheap, unskilled digital labor, we explore alternative accounts of the ways in which individuals a…
Becoming Time-Bound
In recent years Indian construction firms have come under increasing pressure to present their building projects as 'time-bound'. In industry discourse, time-bound projects smoothly and sequentially hit project deadlines. While such an ideal is never realised in practice, I argue that the temporal politics of 'time-bound' projects lies not in their enactment of a smooth and progressive time but rather in the work of orchestration that binds toget…
Transparent constructions
In the last 30 years global investment in Indian real estate has transformed cities like Delhi. Construction firms attract investors by presenting construction as transparently manifesting vetted architectural plans and agreed upon budgets. This article examines the politics of such performed transparency by focusing on the communicational genres which accompany these urban buildings. The architectural drawing and the contract supported the autho…
Ideologies of Labor and the Consequences of Toil in India’s Construction Industry
This article examines the semiotics of labor through an analysis of a construction skill training program in Delhi. It focuses on recurring struggles between students and administrators over the nature and consequences of the activities they engaged in at the training center. Drawing on the notion of language ideology, it argues that students and administrators invoked different ideologies of labor in framing the value and meaning of productive a…
What Happened to the Wage
Peer-reviewed
The Sea Road to the East
What Happened to the Wage
Peer-reviewed
Moral Economies of Remuneration
The article tracks the forms and practices of remuneration that structure production in the Indian construction industry. As in other areas, construction in India is characterized by the widespread use of contract labor. Self-described “modern” construction sites, like the one I focus on in this article, present production as being governed by strict piece-rate contracts. Yet, as the article demonstrates, actual processes of production on the sit…
Working against Labor
From the outside, India's urban construction sites appear to be places of toil, yet for workers, the material qualities of particular actions, from carrying bricks to cutting marble, are experienced as either self-affirming work or abject labor. This article explores how construction workers understand and intervene in the meaning of their work. Skilled and semi-skilled workers are particularly attentive to the bodily shifts brought on by work, a…
Between Work and Labor
Ideologies of Labor and the Consequences of Toil in India’s Construction Industry
This article examines the semiotics of labor through an analysis of a construction skill training program in Delhi. It focuses on recurring struggles between students and administrators over the nature and consequences of the activities they engaged in at the training center. Drawing on the notion of language ideology, it argues that students and administrators invoked different ideologies of labor in framing the value and meaning of productive a…
Sensing defects
This paper explores how professional engineers recognize and make sense of product defects in their everyday work. Such activities form a crucial, if often overlooked, part of professional engineering practice. By detecting, recognizing and repairing defects, engineers contribute to the creation of value and the optimization of production processes. Focusing on early-career engineers in an advanced steel mill in the United States, we demonstrate …
Transparent constructions
In the last 30 years global investment in Indian real estate has transformed cities like Delhi. Construction firms attract investors by presenting construction as transparently manifesting vetted architectural plans and agreed upon budgets. This article examines the politics of such performed transparency by focusing on the communicational genres which accompany these urban buildings. The architectural drawing and the contract supported the autho…
Beyond extraction
This article draws upon a desk-based review and expert interviews with practitioners in the Global South to understand the diverse forms of data mediation that have become increasingly visible in the wake of the global coronavirus disease-19 pandemic. In contrast to accounts that frame the Global South solely as a site for the extraction of data and cheap, unskilled digital labor, we explore alternative accounts of the ways in which individuals a…
Becoming Time-Bound
In recent years Indian construction firms have come under increasing pressure to present their building projects as 'time-bound'. In industry discourse, time-bound projects smoothly and sequentially hit project deadlines. While such an ideal is never realised in practice, I argue that the temporal politics of 'time-bound' projects lies not in their enactment of a smooth and progressive time but rather in the work of orchestration that binds toget…
Engineering (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Water Governance and Infrastructure (3 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (2 works) · Civil engineering (2 works) · Economics (2 works) · Epistemology (2 works)