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• Short Assignments
• Papers

Amanda B.
The author talks about assembly lines in the sense that they have become global. I think of the "original assembly line" as car production. Freeman talks about how an item can be produced in several different countries. What does this say about globalization and does this make you think of anything about the Mardi Gras film?

James
Often when we think about offshore labor we think about situations such as the conditions the workers in "Mardi Gras: Made in China" have to deal with. Do you feel that the situations of the Barbadian women is similar to that of the Chinese women?

Alex V.
How does the notion of flexibility play into the transnational expansion of companies and their preference for women as workers?

Natalie
Is modernity something that can travel through transnationalism? Or is it a mediating factor that comes along with a group of ideas or products? And who decides what is modern?

Stephanie
Freeman spends some time looking into the global assembly line, which she describes, "spans multiple continents and hops over language barriers, cultural traditions, and state authorities. (27)." Do you feel that this type of production in multiple countries and sometimes even multiple continents takes away the "origin" of such products? In taking it a step further, do you feel that such products also lose their meaning?

Ian
Information has the ability to travel at incredible rates, and as a result these offshore 'informatics' have gained popularity. Based on the services they provide do they make transnationalism or globalization any easier? Are they helping the break-down of the need for location?

LaKeisha
Why are appearances so important if these women are working behind a computer screen for the majority of the time?

Stacey
Is it false advertisement to wear clothes that lead people to believe that you are of a different class then to wear clothes that portray your actual social status?

Amanda P.
Freeman uses Chapter 1 to explain the size of Barbados, the decrease of village life and shift toward urbanization, and the challenges of performing enthnographic studies in this region. After a quick review of Barbados, what about it provides the strongest case for doing this kind of work in this particular location?

Alex P.
[P. 27] "The intensification of globalization has developed unevenly.  Some communities and groups are more deeply enmeshed than others in global networks and some are virtually left out of them".  Do you think this the uneven distribution of transnationalism can lead to economic disputes between countries?  Is the"global assembly line" in danger?

Shannon
Is this classification of "pink collar" women a product of globalization?  If so, does this new class threaten the traditional hierarchy in the Caribbean?

Christy
The author writes, "...gender has historically intersected directly with technological innovations (e.g. typewriters, sewing machines, video display terminals)...again, we are witnessing a historical shift in which those arenas undergoing automation, deskilling, and demotion are also feminized. What is at stake is a process by which the concept of skill itself is gendered, and that which is associated with women, devalued" (44). Do you agree with this statement? How does this criticism of technology play out against the rise of technology along with the rise of feminism we have seen in the 20th century?

L.B.
These computer operator jobs offer little to no time for the women to become acquainted with the technology they are using, and thus offer little availability for advancement (46). How much of this information do you think has to relate to the gender of the people performing the tasks. Is this all an effort to further subservient roles of women in the workforce, or simply an effort to make the most money by the company?

Hannah
Although Freeman made her objective well known to the women that she interviewed did her similarity to higher "foreign" management make it more difficult to build rapport with these woman?

Amanda P.
The merging of tradition and modernity is clearly a crux of the text, particularly in chapter two. Women are simeltatenously presented in this chapter as both gaining independence and empowerment while also feigning "female problems" to get out of work. Are women caught between modernity and tradition as well? Is it wrong to assume modernity will win out?

Julie
How can we explain the phenomenon that women would rather work in data processing offices than the sugar can fields, despite the fact that the sugar cane field workers make more money?

Gavin
Why do you think that the Caribbean Islands were influenced by the western migration from Europe so much later than the early phases of the western migration that affected the northern parts of the United States?

Hannah
On page 39, Freeman quotes a woman by the name of Karen Hossfeld, that describes tactics by hispanic and asian woman in silicon valley to turn stereotypes to their advantage, while woman receiving jobs in industries such as technology is advancing our sex, do these woman taking advantage of these stereotypes end up hurting the gender in the long run?