Language and Culture in Workplace Ethnography

Scholars studying the anthropology of work have traditionally been interested in questions of power, class, inequality, moral economy, and the transformations brought about by global capitalism. To address these larger questions, workplace ethnography gives attention to both interactional and systemic level analysis, making linguistic methods a powerful tool for studying both talk at work and institutional discourse. Language has many social functions within the workplace, from the organization of tasks and goals to the ways people navigate relationships and perform identity. Linguistic theoretical and methodological perspectives are applied to the study of power and gatekeeping practices in institutional settings, performance of identity and gender at work, and inequalities related to race, ethnicity, and perceptions of accent. Linguistic practices in the neoliberal global economy are also an economic resource to be managed, regulated, scripted, and marketed, as part of the reflexive project of worker self-improvement. Language is also a form of labor itself in global customer service interactions, accent-reduction training, and contexts of tourism. Thus, workplace ethnography and language study complement each other, and linguistic methods and theory may be applied to major questions in the field of anthropology of work.

A Dimensão Esquecida do Trabalho: Entrevista com Jaime Santos Júnior

Resumo: Como parte do dossiê “Antropologias do Trabalho: Desafios Latino-Americanos”, apresentamos a entrevista realizada com o professor da UFPR, Jaime dos Santos Junior que, refletindo sobre sua trajetória biográfica e acadêmica, ressalta a importância de uma Ciência Social atenta às “zonas cinzentas” dos mundos do trabalho, convidando a um olhar para os interstícios e os não-ditos. Suas pesquisas sobre trabalhadores do corte de cana em Sergipe, sobre operários migrantes no ABC paulista ou, ainda, memórias operárias relacionados à ciclos de greves em Pernambuco e São Paulo – realizadas sempre em interlocução com uma rede de pesquisadoras e pesquisadores – destacam a importância do estudo do cotidiano. A interpretação do cotidiano, no trajeto intelectual de Jaime, sugere uma atenção sociológica complexa para as resistências, as configurações familiares, os movimentos sociais, relações patronais, entre outros fenômenos. A narrativa do entrevistado enfatiza um esforço de propor uma sociologia do trabalho “que não quer ser apenas uma sociologia da denúncia.”Palavras-chave: Antropologia do Trabalho; Trajetória Intelectual; Setor Sucroalcooleiro; Memória Operária THE FORGOTTEN DIMENSION OF WORK:INTERVIEW WITH JAIME SANTOS JÚNIORAbstract: As part of the special issue “Anthropologies of Work: Latin-American challenges” we present the interview with professor Jaime Santos Junior of Federal University of Paraná. He speaks about his intellectual and biographical trajectory highlighting the importance of a social science who looks to the “grey areas” of the worlds of work: the unspoken and the interstitial. His researches about cane workers in Sergipe, migrant workers in “ABC Paulista”, or even worker’s memories of strikes cycles in Pernambuco and São Paulo evidence the importance of study the quotidian. The interpretations of the ordinary life in the intellectual path of professor Jaime suggest a complex sociological attention to resistances, family settings, social movements, employer relations and other phenomena. The interviewee’s narrative emphasizes and effort of propose a sociology of work that “don’t want to be just a sociology of denunciation”.Keywords: Anthropology of Work. Intellectual Trajectory. Sugar and Alcohol Sector. Memory of Work

Apuntes Antropológicos sobre Debates Actuales: Clases trabajadoras y economía popular en la Argentina

Resumen: El siguiente artículo se inscribe en el análisis de los procesos recientes de organización de trabajadores en torno a la economía popular en la Argentina, particularmente el caso de la Confederación de Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (CTEP).Nos proponemos desarrollar aquí el modo en que ciertas características y reivindicaciones de dicho espacio sindical nos permiten poner en tensión una serie de debates teóricos vinculados con el alcance, sentido y validez del trabajo como organizador de la vida. A partir del análisis del proceso de demanda por el reconocimiento como actor sindical de la CTEP buscaremos echar luz sobre los aportes de la antropología en general, y la antropología del trabajo en particular, para dar cuenta de dichas reivindicaciones en el marco de una trama más compleja y de larga duración.Palabras clave: Trabajo. Economía popular. Sindicatos ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES ON CURRENT DISCUSSIONS: WORKING CLASSES AND POPULAR ECONOMY IN ARGENTINA Abstract: The following article is part of the analysis of recent worker organization processes around the popular economy in Argentina, particularly the case of the Confederation of Workers of the Popular Economy (CTEP).We intend to develop here the way in which certain characteristics and demands of said trade union space allow us to stress a series of theoretical debates related to the scope, meaning and validity of work as an organizer of life. From the analysis of the demand process for the recognition as a trade union actor of the CTEP we will seek to shed light on the contributions of anthropology in general, and anthropology of work in particular, to account for these claims in the framework of a plot complex and long lasting.Keywords: Work. Popular economy. Trade unions