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    "Narratives of Technological Globalization and Outsourced Call Centers in India: Droids, Mimic Machines, Automatons, and Bad 'Borgs"

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    Issue Date
    2014-05-31
    Author
    Lowe, Annie
    Publisher
    University of Kansas
    Format
    121 pages
    Type
    Thesis
    Degree Level
    M.A.
    Discipline
    English
    Rights
    Copyright held by the author.
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    Abstract
    Taking as a premise that contemporary communication and information technology-aided globalization is a world-making practice that relies on narratives to construct and transmit global imaginaries and relational identities, this project evaluates narrative discourses of Indian call centers serving clients and customers in the United States in order to analyze evolving hegemonic narratives of the "global" of late capitalism. In this project, I argue that constellations of local, national, and transnational hegemonies map outsourced Indian call centers into a position in capitalist geography at which vectors of the production of national, corporate, and racial identities converge in the technological production of power. Specifically, I look at assemblages of narratives corresponding to four tropes that metaphorize Indian tech workers as machines--the oriental droid, the mimic machine, the productive automaton, and the bad 'borg--how each metaphor is reinforced by labor processes in the call center, and how these are assimilated into new forms of subjugation to further extend and entrench participation in zero-sum economics across the globe.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/22522
    Collections
    • English Dissertations and Theses [449]
    • Theses [3827]

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    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
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    Lawrence, KS 66045
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    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

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