A Nation on the Line: Call Centers as Postcolonial Predicaments in the Philippines - Softcover

Padios, Jan M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 082237059X ISBN 13: 9780822370598

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2018

Synopsis

In 2011 the Philippines surpassed India to become what the New York Times referred to as "the world's capital of call centers." By the end of 2015 the Philippine call center industry employed over one million people and generated twenty-two billion dollars in revenue. In A Nation on the Line Jan M. Padios examines this massive industry in the context of globalization, race, gender, transnationalism, and postcolonialism, outlining how it has become a significant site of efforts to redefine Filipino identity and culture, the Philippine nation-state, and the value of Filipino labor. She also chronicles the many contradictory effects of call center work on Filipino identity, family, consumer culture, and sexual politics. As Padios demonstrates, the critical question of call centers does not merely expose the logic of transnational capitalism and the legacies of colonialism; it also problematizes the process of nation-building and peoplehood in the early twenty-first century. 

About this title

About the Author:

Jan M. Padios is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Review:

"As an example of the transnational turn in Asian American studies, Padios’s book gives us insight into how work is being reinvented, and the ways in which this reinvention has muddled distinctions between the United States and a place like the Philippines." -- Min Hyoung Song, Public Books Published On: 2019-02-05

"Jan M. Padios describes with colorful detail the ways that neoliberalism draws upon Filipino/American relatability to garner profits, cheaply pay Filipinos, and serve U.S.-based customers within the call center industry." -- Giselle Cunanan, Ethnic and Racial Studies Published On: 2019-01-15

"A Nation on the Line is relevant to audiences interested in Filipino diasporic migrations, transnational Filipino identities, and transnational labor studies writ large. The author provides an analysis of the global political economy that echoes other work on the production and management of global Filipino labor; however, this work simultaneously lends a clarity to the subjective identities and affective and relational aspect of labor that has yet to be fully explored among this group of workers." -- Fumilayo Showers, American Journal of Sociology Published On: 2019-05-01

About this edition

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 082237059X
• ISBN 13: 9780822370598
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 248