070151 SE Commodity Chains and Global Labour History - Interactions and Entanglements (2011W)

This seminar will explore work and labour in a global context. Labour is not restricted to wage labour, but includes all types of work from free to unfree, paid to unpaid, formal to informal, terms and meanings differing from culture to culture. The combination of different types of labour and labour regimes within commodity chains, or global production networks, allows to gain profits for those on top of the chain, while those at the bottom contribute without proper benefit. Commodity chains are therefore used as a key concept to global labour arrangements, characterized by the non-synchronicity of labour-relations in the different parts and places of the chain; transfer of value is used as a key concept to analyse unevenness and inequality in a globalized world.

After getting familiar with the concepts (with the help of readings), the students will explore the uneven and unequal combination of labour regimes, taking specific arrangements of global commodity chains as a case study.

Students from different part of the world are invited to contribute to the seminar by approaching the topic from their region, language, and culture. Research topics and questions will be chosen and developed by the students, cooperating in groups.