Neutral Accent

Aneesh A. Aneesh

Description

In Neutral Accent, A. Aneesh employs India's call centers as useful sites for studying global change. The horizon of global economic shift, the consequences of global integration, and the ways in which call center work "neutralizes" racial, ethnic, and national identities become visible from the confines of their cubicles. In his interviews with call service workers and in his own work in a call center in the high tech metropolis of Gurgoan, India, Aneesh observed the difficulties these workers face in bridging cultures, laws, and economies: having to speak in an accent that does not betray their ethnicity, location, or social background; learning foreign social norms; and working graveyard shifts to accommodate international customers. Call center work is cast as independent of place, space, and time, and its neutrality-which Aneesh defines as indifference to difference-has become normal business practice in a global economy. The work of call center employees in the globally integrated marketplace comes at a cost, however, as they become disconnected from the local interactions and personal relationships that make their lives anything but neutral.

Sujets

• History of Asia
• China

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 24 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822375715
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

NEUTRAL ACCENT

Duke University Press

Durham and London

2015

NEUTRAL

ACCENT

How Language, Labor, and Life Become Global

A. Aneesh

© 2015 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acidfree paper♾

Typeset in Myriad Pro and Quadraat by Graphic Composition, Inc. Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Aneesh, A. (Aneesh), 1964– Neutral accent : how language, labor, and life become global / A. Aneesh. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn9780822358466 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn9780822358534 (pbk. : alk. paper) isbn9780822375715 (ebook) 1. Call center agents—India—Gurgaon. 2. Call centers—India—Gurgaon. 3. Globalization. 4. Intercultural communication. i. Title. he8789.i4a54 2015 381'.1—dc23 2014046257

Cover art:bpo, Bangalore, Kamataka, India. Photo by IndiaPicture/uigvia Getty Images.

FOR ELIJAH,until the last breath and after

CONTENTS

Acknowledgmentsix

Prologue: One World, Diverse Itineraries1

Glimpsing an Urban Future: Divergent Tracks of Gurgaon13

Inside a Call Center: Otherworldly Passages35

Neutral Accent53

1

2

3

4

System Identities: Divergent Itineraries and Uses of Personality77

5

Nightly Clashes: Diurnal Body, Nocturnal Labor, Neutral Markets101

Epilogue: The Logic of Indifference127

References137

Index151

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Had I not taken half a dozen years to complete this book, I would have pre vented names from slipping through the cracks in memory, and I will not have to face the anxiety of ingratitude. Perhaps I needed to start an acknowl edgment section before starting the manuscript, as debts began to accumu late long before the manuscript took shape. Now I succumb to the cheap trick of apologizing to those whose help, though scattered through the pages ahead, remains unacknowledged. Let me begin by thanking the MacArthur Foundation for funding field research in India, including research assistance, equipment, and all other expenses during 2004–5 (Grant No. 03–80081–000gss). I also thank two research assistants, Sabil Francis and Rosmin Matthew, who were graduate students at Jawaharlal Nehru University at the time, and partners in research. A couple of years later I was fortunate to receive a resident fellowship at the School for Advanced Research (sar) in Santa Fe, allowing me to reflect back on field research, analyze the material, read a lot, and write a bit. I felt deeply supported by thesar’s president at the time, James Brooks, and his sociolo gist wife, Rebecca Allahyari, who made critical comments and suggestions on early presentations and writing. I must also thank my colleagues at thesar— Graham St. John, Barbara Rose Johnston, Eric Haanstad, Noenoe K. Silva, Julie Velasquez—whose intellectual and gastronomical companionship was crucial to that magical year of contemplation and New Mexican cuisine. Had I concentrated less on eating out in Santa Fe, I would have probably completed