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The Ethiopian textile industry is particularly affected by high labor turnover. In a compelling social study, Michaela Fink investigates the causes of this issue, focusing primarily on the voices of the (female) workforce. She illustrates the tension between rural, community-based orientations of women workers and the industrial working environment in which they find themselves. For the women, it is often a balancing act between the rural world they come from and the urban consumerist world they live and work in. They are attracted to modern values of career, consumption and urbanity. At the same time, it is hardly possible for them to achieve modest prosperity.
About the author
Michaela Fink (Dr. phil.), geb. 1973, ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Soziologie der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. Ihre Arbeits- und Forschungsschwerpunkte sind die Versorgung am Lebensende, Ehrenamt und Demenz sowie Studien zum subsaharischen Afrika. Sie promovierte 2011 zur Frage der Institutionalisierung des Sterbens in der Hospiz- und Palliativarbeit, arbeitet in verschiedenen Forschungsprojekten zum Thema Ehrenamtliche Sterbebegleitung und war am Aufbau und der Leitung des ambulanten Kinderhospizdienstes Gießen (2006-2012) beteiligt.
Summary
The Ethiopian textile industry is particularly affected by high labor turnover. In a compelling social study, Michaela Fink investigates the causes of this issue, focusing primarily on the voices of the (female) workforce. She illustrates the tension between rural, community-based orientations of women workers and the industrial working environment in which they find themselves. For the women, it is often a balancing act between the rural world they come from and the urban consumerist world they live and work in. They are attracted to modern values of career, consumption and urbanity. At the same time, it is hardly possible for them to achieve modest prosperity.
