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Disrupting ‘A Man’s World’: Gender, Technology, and Class in Vietnam’s Global Heavy Industry.

Rydström, Helle LU orcid (2023) In The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, JRAI 29(1). p.163-182
Abstract
Only rarely is Vietnam's global heavy industry studied from an anthropological perspective in either its gender or its class dimensions. This article contributes new insights into the ways in which the interagential dynamics of gender and technology from shopfloor to engineer offices coproduce social orders in contesting and perpetuating essentializing notions of femininity and masculinity. Blue-collar and white-collar women working in heavy industrial workplaces represent a minority in ‘a man's world’, ambiguously both disidentifying and identifying with notions of a typical ‘female character’ vis-à-vis ‘male character’. Women working in heavy industry, the article shows, generate ‘disruption’ by reconfiguring conventions regarding... (More)
Only rarely is Vietnam's global heavy industry studied from an anthropological perspective in either its gender or its class dimensions. This article contributes new insights into the ways in which the interagential dynamics of gender and technology from shopfloor to engineer offices coproduce social orders in contesting and perpetuating essentializing notions of femininity and masculinity. Blue-collar and white-collar women working in heavy industrial workplaces represent a minority in ‘a man's world’, ambiguously both disidentifying and identifying with notions of a typical ‘female character’ vis-à-vis ‘male character’. Women working in heavy industry, the article shows, generate ‘disruption’ by reconfiguring conventions regarding gendered occupation, redefining gendered engagement with technology, and recalibrating images of femininity and masculinity. Doing so means carving out new opportunities and/or provoking crisis in a patrilineal universe. The article analyses the intricate ways in which women's engagement with technology is empowering while simultaneously reinforcing gender- and class-specific inequalities in socialist Vietnam's global market economy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Gender, Disruption, Global Capitalism, Industrialization, Technology, Vietnam
in
The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, JRAI
volume
29
issue
1
pages
163 - 182
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85144253461
ISSN
1467-9655
DOI
10.1111/1467-9655.13865
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c3d51d1e-db80-41ff-878f-100f67c6ffa8
date added to LUP
2021-11-06 19:21:33
date last changed
2023-12-19 15:32:09
@article{c3d51d1e-db80-41ff-878f-100f67c6ffa8,
  abstract     = {{Only rarely is Vietnam's global heavy industry studied from an anthropological perspective in either its gender or its class dimensions. This article contributes new insights into the ways in which the interagential dynamics of gender and technology from shopfloor to engineer offices coproduce social orders in contesting and perpetuating essentializing notions of femininity and masculinity. Blue-collar and white-collar women working in heavy industrial workplaces represent a minority in ‘a man's world’, ambiguously both disidentifying and identifying with notions of a typical ‘female character’ vis-à-vis ‘male character’. Women working in heavy industry, the article shows, generate ‘disruption’ by reconfiguring conventions regarding gendered occupation, redefining gendered engagement with technology, and recalibrating images of femininity and masculinity. Doing so means carving out new opportunities and/or provoking crisis in a patrilineal universe. The article analyses the intricate ways in which women's engagement with technology is empowering while simultaneously reinforcing gender- and class-specific inequalities in socialist Vietnam's global market economy.}},
  author       = {{Rydström, Helle}},
  issn         = {{1467-9655}},
  keywords     = {{Gender; Disruption; Global Capitalism; Industrialization; Technology; Vietnam}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{163--182}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, JRAI}},
  title        = {{Disrupting ‘A Man’s World’:  Gender, Technology, and Class in Vietnam’s Global Heavy Industry.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13865}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1467-9655.13865}},
  volume       = {{29}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}