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Invisible Bodies and Disembodied Voices? Identity Work, the Body and Embodiment in Transnational Service Work

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  • Sweta Rajan†Rankin

Abstract

This article explores the linkages between identity work, the body and embodiment in transnational call centres. Identity work, defined as the masking of national identity to imply proximity to the western client, provides an opportunity for the analyst to examine workplace embodiment in a global context. Qualitative data from an ethnographic study of two global outsourcing firms in India (2010–2012) explicated these processes. Narrative accounts suggest that call centre workers are routinely made aware of the body as a target of discipline, for instance in training; by working on their own bodies (including posture, dress, voice modulation and other forms of body regulation); by working on the bodies of others (through voice†based interactions) and by using embodied images of Americans to contextualize the service provided. In this way, the western client is visualized by the Indian call worker through corporeal imaginaries that concomitantly construct, subvert and resist the West†Rest dichotomy in service relations. Far from being disembodied, this study demonstrates that the body is central to global service work.

Suggested Citation

  • Sweta Rajan†Rankin, 2018. "Invisible Bodies and Disembodied Voices? Identity Work, the Body and Embodiment in Transnational Service Work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 9-23, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:25:y:2018:i:1:p:9-23
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12198
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jonathan Murphy, 2011. "Indian call centre workers: vanguard of a global middle class?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(3), pages 417-433, September.
    2. Linda McDowell & Adina Batnitzky & Sarah Dyer, 2007. "Division, Segmentation, and Interpellation: The Embodied Labors of Migrant Workers in a Greater London Hotel," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(1), pages 1-25, January.
    3. Vandana Nath, 2011. "Aesthetic and emotional labour through stigma: national identity management and racial abuse in offshored Indian call centres," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(4), pages 709-725, December.
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    2. Roshni Narendran & James Reveley & Shamika Almeida, 2021. "Countering transphobic stigma: Identity work by self‐employed Keralan transpeople," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1220-1236, July.
    3. Mohammed Cheded & Alexandros Skandalis, 2021. "Touch and contact during COVID‐19: Insights from queer digital spaces," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 340-347, July.

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