Material Worlds
Denim on the Globalized Shop Floor
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16776885 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leila Zaki Chakravarti (Leila Zaki Chakravarti trained as an anthropologist at the American University in Cairo. She worked as a shop-floor operative in an Egyptian garment assembly factory as fieldwork for her PhD studies (completed in 2009) at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. She is currently preparing her thesis for publication and exploring new research avenues into issues of gender in the “workplaces” of professional football., corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 62-74 |
| Publication date | 2011-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | TEXTILE (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1475-9756 • E-ISSN: 1751-8350 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2752/175183511x12949158771473 |
| OpenAlex | W2538353122 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
This paper focuses on a material culture approach in order to explore multiple dimensions in the production of denim in an export-dominated assembly plant in Port Said, Egypt. Ethnographic data are analyzed to highlight the interplay between the surfaces and tools used in garment making and the skills and strategies deployed by factory workers, so elucidating some of the less immediately visible nuances in the turbulence of daily life on the production shop floor. Contrary to the common view that dismisses production tasks as repetitive and boring, these processes reveal the technical structures, skill hierarchies and uses of shop-floor language that give shade and variation to the skills attributed to different stages of "made-to-order" garment assembly work. These dynamics become more significant within the specific context of global and local competition for orders in which denim is established as the definitive fabric and brand through which reputations are made and sustained—for workers, for firms and for the city.Keywords: denimglobalizationshopfloorsociologymasculinitygendermaterial culture
Archaeology · Architectural engineering · Art · Business · Denim · Visual arts · Crafts, Textile, and Design · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Engineering · History
| Highly cited | No |
|---|