From localized to globalized markets

The chapter relates over 30 years of fieldwork in the port city of Le Havre. As port labor markets evolved, primarily through containerization, from localized to globalized markets, the researcher was led to adopt changes in his way of doing fieldwork. The practice of distancing, or how to distance oneself from the place and people to study, constituted a first reflection on conducting research in industrial relations, in very localized but interconnected systems such as ports. This involved using a mix of tools, such as interviews and archives, and confronting the limits of both cultural and material approaches. To understand how a particular type of industrial district (the port community) was transformed within the global maritime labor market required making comparisons, which prompted the local researcher to go abroad. Finally, as the spread of neoliberal policies during globalization modifies the social landscape and networks, the local port is crossed by flows of mobile workers and migrants. Mobile housing becomes an object of research when poor globalized workers come to settle in the city. Among them, Roma migrants and seasonal workers taught me at last an ancient way of inquiring: dockwalking. The study of industrial relations is endless and must combine many methods.