Overview
Based on a ethnographic study on women working in the health care industry, the book examines the everyday politics of labour to understand how occupational hierarchies intersect with social identities in a hitherto feminine caste-based occupation. The book traces the emergence and refashioning of the nursing profession , from colonial Bengal to contemporary Kolkata to argue that nursing labour is cleaved along the lines of 'prestigious' and 'dirty' work, which reflect not just skills but also historically and socially produced structural inequalities. Thus certain segments of the profession have witnessed professionalisation, such as trained nurses, and certain segments, such as nursing aides and attendants, continue to struggle with non-recognition of skills and stigmatisation of labour. The book interrogates the politics of distinction and distancing that produces a differentiated workforce, and the various contestations around gender, caste, class, sexualities, among and between ranks of workers who deploy modernity, morality and social norms as strategies to secure marginal gains at the expense of others.
Full Product Details
Author: Panchali Ray (Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, Jadavpur University)
Publisher: OUP India
Imprint: OUP India
Dimensions:
Width: 14.70cm
, Height: 2.60cm
, Length: 22.10cm
Weight: 0.386kg
ISBN: 9780199489763
ISBN 10: 0199489769
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 15 August 2019
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
At the outset, let me congratulate the author on this piece of work; very thought provoking and a significant contribution to knowledge on several fronts. Scholars across disciplines and/or holding different intellectual positions within a discipline will find in this work a bringing together of a range of issues that cannot be straightjacketed into neat themes.'- Padmini Swaminathan, Chairperson, Centre for Livelihoods, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.
At the outset, let me congratulate the author on this piece of work; very thought provoking and a significant contribution to knowledge on several fronts. Scholars across disciplines and/or holding different intellectual positions within a discipline will find in this work a bringing together of a range of issues that cannot be straightjacketed into neat themes.'- Padmini Swaminathan, Chairperson, Centre for Livelihoods, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad.
Author Information
Panchali Ray is Assistant Professor at the School of Women's Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
