Blog Post #2

For next week, please view Sonali Gulati's Nalini by Day, Nancy by Night (link located on the course D2L site).

1. From your viewing of the documentary and referring to A. Aneesh's chapter "Virtual Migration", briefly answer the following:

How does the call center training and work conditions transform one’s sense of having a regional and national identity? In other words, how does Gulati call attention to the ways in which globalization and the creation of a virtual labor force transform formerly geographically bounded identities? (Your answer must include at least one reference to A. Aneesh's chapter)

2. Review the "Reading Room: the economics of outsourcing" essay in the course reader. Visit "Alladeen" -- the website for The Builders Association's theatrical production Alladeen Bangalore-London-New York.


Go to the "cyber immigrants" section and view the videos in:


My Strangest Phone Call
Perceptions of America and American Culture
Aspirations for the Future
(move your cursor over the "blue diamonds" on the left hand side of the screen to get section titles)

How does the "Alladeen" site, through its design (magic lamp motif), and its use and organization of video and sound clips, allow us, the users, to confront and challenge our expectations of call center workers and their lived experience as virtual laborers? (Provide one example from the video sections listed above)

Blog Post #1

Read the NYT article "Rural South Koreans' Global Links Grow, Nourished by a Satellite Crop" and answer the following question based on the assigned Appadurai readings.

Identify and briefly describe two ways the article illustrates Appadurai's argument concerning electronic and post-electronic media and migration as marking new ways in which to construct "imagined worlds and imagined selves."


Review the guidelines for blog posts listed on the course syllabus. Select the "Comments" link below the post and enter your response. It is suggested that you write your response in your word processing application, save it, then cut and paste it into the "Comments" section. Remember to write your name and section number (301 or 314) in your "Comments" post.