Dying for an iPhone - Outstanding Academic Titles 2022: China

Outstanding Academic Titles 2022: China

Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn and the Lives of China's Workers (Jenny CHAN, Mark SELDEN, PUN Ngai)

January 25, 2023

Outstanding Academic Titles

This insiders’ story about industrial protest within the international tech sector makes for an insightful volume. Authors Chan (Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ.), Selden (Cornell Univ.), and Pun (Univ. of Hong Kong) seek to assess the extent to which the Chinese state and global tech corporations have fulfilled their responsibilities to protect workers in the context of transnational production. The book comprises 12 chapters. Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, is the focus of chapters 1–4. The coverage of chapters 5–8 ranges over student interns, human costs of technology empire-building, unsettled lives, love, and desire for consumption. The current environmental crisis, work-related injuries, industrial protests, and labor rights are treated in chapters 9–12. The authors believe that “when workers, with support at home and abroad, unite to reclaim their dignity and right to fair labor,” there is a chance of improvement. The case of Foxconn, including both its present international profile (plants in 29 countries and territories) and its proposed extensions into the US, Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world, “could inspire a new round of global labor struggles.”

CHOICE’s 2022 Outstanding Academic Title: China

Jenny CHAN, Mark SELDEN, PUN Ngai

Chicago: Haymarket Books & London: Pluto Press (2020); Seoul: Narumbooks (translated into Korean in 2021)

CHOICE editors consider several factors in their decisions, including:

-Overall excellence in presentation and scholarship

-Importance relative to other literature in the field

-Distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form

-Originality or uniqueness of treatment of their subject

-Significance in building undergraduate collections

Prof Kim Scipes is presented the 2023 Outstanding Faculty Engagement Award

Prof Kim Scipes, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Purdue University Northwest in Westville, Indiana (NWI), won the 2023 Outstanding Faculty Engagement Award (based on Prof Scipes’ years of engagement with local communities, both on campus and off).

Kim Scipes (2022) The Union Makes Us Strong (Z Net)

Scipes, Kim. 2022. “The Union Makes Us Strong: Understanding Trade Unionism in a Global Context.” Z Net, December 1. 

Jörg Nowak (2022) "After Lula's Narrow Victory"

Nowak, Jörg. 2022. “After Lula’s Narrow Victory: Return to Democratic Capitalism or an Ongoing Rightwing Insurgency?” Socialist Project: The Bullet, 10 Nov.

Dr. Kim Scipes (2022) interviewed by Kayla Vasilko

“Dr. Kim Scipes: Building a Network of Compassion in a World Waiting to be United,” Interviewed by Kayla Vasilko. Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement, 2022, 9(1): 39-46.

Kim Scipes interview (The Beacher Oct 2022)

Interview with Professor Kim Scipes

The Beacher Weekly Newspaper, 20 October 2022, Vol. 38, No. 41

The U.S. Marine Corps might seem like a strange place for a young enlistee, raised in a conservative military family, to experience a life-changing moment of interracial enlightenment. 

But for Steven “Kim” Scipes, a Purdue University Northwest professor emeritus and global labor scholar, a surprising assignment as a USMC corporal in 1971 to study how to better understand and engage Black Marines set him on a journey he could not have possibly imagined.

...

Kim Scipes (2022) CovertAction Magazine

Scipes, Kim. 2022. “As workers win victories in Mexico, it’s important to remember past machinations against them.” CovertAction Magazine. 28 February. https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/02/28/as-workers-win-victories-in-mexico-its-important-to-remember-past-machinations-against-them/  

Mexico’s reenergized labor movement should be leery of AFL-CIO cooptation and CIA infiltration following long historical pattern

In early February, workers at a General Motors plant in Silao, a town in central Mexico, won an important victory by establishing an independent union. Rob McKenzie’s (assisted by Patrick Dunne) new book, El Golpe: U.S. Labor, the CIA, and the Coup at Ford in Mexico, reminds us of the great historical barriers that workers have faced in forming independent unions in Mexico.

Labor Express Radio (5 Sep 2021) an interview with Kim Scipes

Interview

Scipes, Kim. 2021. “Show: Labor Express for 9-5-2021 - Reflection and Analysis of the Trumka Years of the AFL-CIO with Two Labor Historians.” Labor Express Radio, 5 September.

Kim Scipes' book, KMU (1996), is available on-line for free

Scipes, Kim. 1996. KMU: Building Genuine Trade Unionism in the Philippines, 1980–1994. Quezon City, Philippines: New Day Publishers.

*Published in entirety, on-line for free: download [right below the covers of Scipes’ four published books, there is a link to the book]

NOTE:  As of June 1, 2021, thanks to Susan D. Anderson, and with the permission of New Day Publishers, the ENTIRE text to my 1996 book on the KMU is now available on-line for free.

The passing of Prof Aziz Choudry (1966-2021)

OBITUARY

To honour Professor Aziz Choudry’s (1966-2021) memory, a virtual meeting will be held on 5 June, 7:30pm SAST, 6:30pm UK time, 1:30pm Montreal, Canada, 5:30am Christchurch, New Zealand: Zoom

Kim Scipes (2021) AFL-CIO, NED & US Labor Imperialism (WorkWeek Radio)

Scipes, Kim. 2021. “AFL-CIO, NED & US Labor Imperialism.” WorkWeek Radio.

WorkWeek interviews Professor Kim Scipes who teaches at Purdue University Northwest. He discusses the long history of collaboration between the US government in collusion with the AFL-CIO leadership in international support of coups and in setting up pro-capitalist unions throughout the world. Most of the funds come from the National Endowment For Democracy a US government agency. They receive over $30 million a year from the NED.
He also talks about why he decided to study this issue and how the National Endowment for Democracy NED funds the AFL-CIO "Solidarity Center” without any full report to the rank and file as well as affiliates of the AFL-CIO on the work that they are doing. In 2019 they received more than $39 million nearly all from the US government for the international operations of the AFL-CIO.
He also discusses the corporate top down structure of the AFL-CIO and most International unions that prevent the ranks from having direct control and information about their union.
This interview was done by WorkWeek on 3/23/21

Corey Dolgon, folksinger and sociology, a singing lecture

Corey Dolgon

In Search of One Big Union: Folksongs and the U.S. Labor Movement

A Singing Lecture by Corey Dolgon, Folksinger and Sociologist

https://www.coreydolgon.com/

Pluto Press webinar (2020)

WEBINAR

“Fighting Foxconn: Lessons Learned from Online and Offline Activism in China”

Moderators: Robert Ovetz (San Jose State University), Immanuel Ness (CUNY)

Speakers: Jenny Chan (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), Mark Selden (Cornell University)

Guests: Ralph Litzinger (Duke University), Ying Chen (The New School)

Date and time: 30 October 2020 Friday, London at 5:00PM

The Pluto Press webinar series is sponsored by Railroad Workers United.

Power, Politics, and Influence at Work (2020)

FREE ONLINE COURSE: “Power, Politics, and Influence at Work”

Join course for free

Starting 12 October 2020 Monday (approximately 4 hours of learning per week, for 5 weeks)

The course has been created by Tony Dundon, Miguel Martinez Lucio, Emma Hughes and Roger Walden, along with academics and researchers from the universities of Manchester, Limerick and Liverpool.

Kim Scipes's delegation to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Kim Scipes, Professor of Sociology at Purdue University Northwest (PNW) in Westville, Indiana, USA, got his college dean, Elaine Carey, to co-sponsor and support a delegation to the “International Conference on Innovations in Social Sciences and the Humanities 2019” at Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on October 4-5, 2019. Co-sponsors, besides TDTU and PNW, included Universitat Leipzig (Germany), Warwick University (UK), University a Degli Studi di Trieste (Italy), and National Chiao Tung University (Taiwan).  Eventually, five PNW faculty presented papers, plus a Memorandum of Understanding for student and faculty exchanges was signed between TDTU and PNW.  Scipes presented a paper on “Innovations in Labor Studies:  Incorporating Global Perspectives,” served on the Scientific Committee of the Conference, and Chaired a session on “Innovations in Public Engagement for Social Sciences and Humanities.”

 

Adriana Leona Rosales-Mendoza (17 Sep 2019) presentation at the University of Waikato

Adriana Leona Rosales-Mendoza’s presentation: “Migratory Emotions: Men and Women of Yucatan and Chiapas, Mexico, Facing Male Migration to Quebec, Canada”, 17 September 2019, The University of Waikato: “Migratory Emotions: Men and Women of Yucatan and Chiapas, Mexico, Facing Male Migration to Quebec, Canada”, 17 September 2019, The University of Waikato

IDEA SEMINAR Series 2019 - 17 September 2019

Date	Tuesday 17 September 2019
Time	1:10pm - 2pm
Where	I.1.01
Presenter	Adriana Leona Rosales-Mendoza
Contact	Shefali Pawar
Contact email	shefali.pawar@waikato.ac.nz
Admission Cost	Free

MIGRATORY EMOTIONS: MEN AND WOMEN OF YUCATAN AND CHIAPAS, MÉXICO, FACING MALE MIGRATION TO QUEBEC, CANADA

Dr Jörg Nowak Interviewed by German public television channel ZDF

Dr Jörg Nowak

Interviewed by German public television channel ZDF, 2 August 2019

Call for an international climate strike

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute/streikforscher-zu-fridays-for-future-oekologische-fragen-innerhalb-der-gewerkschaften-umstritten-100.html 

Streikforscher zu Klimademos-"Ökologische Fragen innerhalb der Gewerkschaften umstritten"

Datum:

02.08.2019 21:40 Uhr

Warum nicht einfach mal das ganze Land an einem Freitag 

lahmlegen? Streikforscher Jörg Nowak erklärt, warum Joko 

Winterscheidts Idee mit den Gewerkschaften schwer 

umzusetzen ist.

Jenny Chan interviewed by Daniel Denvir for The Dig (10 April 2019)

Jenny Chan interviewed by Daniel Denvir for The Dig (a podcast from Jacobin magazine), in “Chinese Class Conflict with Jenny Chan,” 10 April 2019 (total run time: 01:56:59).

In the US, China is often viewed at best as a nefarious and enigmatic rival and at worst as a civilizational enemy. But these stories of national rivalry that permeate both major parties and the mainstream media function as a mystification, shrouding the global supply chain that connects capitalist exploitation from East to West. When we cut through the noise, a rather different picture emerges: China is home to a massive portion of the world's working-class, a class that is struggling against the combined forces of state and global capital for dignified lives. And these struggles, contrary to conventional wisdom, are deeply connected, rather than opposed to, worker struggles in the West. Dan interviews sociologist Jenny Chan on China's class conflict and labor movement.

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 Released April 10, 2019

Andreas Bieler awarded the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies fellowship (2019-2020)

Andreas Bieler has been awarded a one-year fellowship with the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, starting in August 2019.

Big congratulations!

Andreas Bieler

Professor of Political Economy, Faculty of Social Sciences

Jenny Chan received the 2018 Best Teaching Award

Jenny Chan, assistant professor, received the 2018 Best Teaching Award, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.