You are most warmly invited to this book launch hosted by the CTTR Language, Power and Society Research Group. Cleaning lies at the heart of the social inequalities that underpin responsibilities for care work in both domestic and public spaces. The analytical approach presented in Work, Labour and Cleaning: The Social Contexts of Outsourcing Housework starts from a particular varifocal diasporic location that takes into account similarities and differences between and within two social contexts in the UK and India. The book shows how contemporary classed and casteised understandings of work shape experiences of paid domestic cleaning as either work (using mental and manual skills) or as labour (usually defined as unskilled, ‘natural’ women’s work). A reading and brief talk about the wider implications of this novel approach to work will be followed by a Q&A session. Tea/coffee and refreshments will be provided. Sample copies of the book will be available and attendees can use the discount code on the promotional flyers to buy the book at a special launch price online after the event. This event is free to attend, but please register your interest at Eventbrite. See link below. The book launch is an open public event – feel free to bring along friends and family.
About the Author: Dr Lotika Singha has recently joined the Faculty of Arts as an Honorary Research Fellow and will contribute to the Language, Power and Society Research Group. Her book, Work, Labour and Cleaning. The Social Contexts of Outsourcing Housework, is newly published in July 2019 by Bristol University Press. Lotika received her doctorate in women’s studies from the University of York. Her research interests centre on social inequalities in everyday life and cross-cultural theories across various population groups.