Labor History Research Articles

“Missing Masculinities”: Transnational Fathering Experiences in Migrant Families

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the effects of migration-induced male absence on the upbringing of children in selected communities of Zimbabwe. We argue that migration scholarship places more emphasis on the economic benefits of migration such as remittances and imported innovation, but is largely silent on the emotional hardships it causes for the family, especially the children who are left behind. We locate this work in the context of Zimbabwe where men from Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces have traditionally migrated to South Africa in search of employment in the gold mines and agricultural farms. We use the case of Tsholotsho district in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe to explore the impact that the physical absence of fathers had in the socialization of children. Taking a historical narrative angle, the paper uses family histories gathered in Zimbabwe and South Africa over a 12-month period to explore the lived realities of families with migrant fathers. We use data from in-depth interviews with the affected children, the absentee fathers and the women who stayed behind to take care of the children. We observe that there are many children who grew up without their fathers and other male figures because of historical labour migration to South Africa. We conceive the migration-induced absence of fathers and other male relatives as the “missing masculinities”, although we are cognisant that masculinities and masculine roles are not entirely constituted by the presence of men.

Casteist demons and working-class prophets: subaltern Islam in Bengal, circa 1872–1928

AbstractThis article investigates the relationship between caste and Islam in Bengal at a time when they acquired heightened significance as markers of identity for the colonial state and between communities. Scholarship, mainly drawing on North India, has emphasised the contrast between the existence in practice of a hierarchical system of social stratification among Muslims and the ideals and traditions of Islamic egalitarianism. This article, however, shows that caste-based struggles and tensions produced a revolutionary Islam. I suggest that the subversive potential of Islamic egalitarianism, described in early Islam by Louise Marlow, was kept alive by low-caste Bengali Muslims. The social reality of caste enabled multiple understandings of what it meant to be a Muslim, and the more radical among them were subaltern ontologies—different meanings of what it was to be a Muslim in the world. Here, I analyse writings on caste by four unreliable narrators around the turn of the twentieth century—a British colonial ethnographer, an ashrāfī Muslim anthropologist, and two Muslim reformers—to describe the politics and lifeworlds of low-caste Muslim groups in Bengal. The article argues for a more nuanced understanding of this period of Islamic reform and development, one that is conscious of the subaltern currents shaping its course. I show how a reformist politics of ‘rejection’ of elite Islam emerged as a response to the problem of caste inequality. These discourses and practices repudiating elite Muslim titles, centring histories of labour, and emphasising equality as an embodied experience reveal the revolutionary potentialities of a subaltern Islam.

Reframing the Lupeni Strike of 1929: State Intervention and Organized Labor in Romania’s Jiu Valley

The article examines the Lupeni strike action of 1929. While Communist-era historiography exalted the strike as a political action led by party members, the strike was atypical for local labor organization. Placing the strike in the wider context of 1920-1931, the article traces the interaction between local organized labor, the coal companies of the Jiu Valley, and state agents, both locally and in Bucharest. In the post-1918 period, the unions pressed for miners to receive reasonable compensation; given the state’s demand for coal and the companies’ need for labor, this initially fostered compromise. The Romanian state was willing to tolerate local labor unions led by Social Democrats, while using repression — including the army — to suppress strikes and ensure an uninterrupted coal supply. Shifts in the market and coal production, however, reduced the need for miners — resulting in the fragmentation of local unions. In 1929 the combination of a relatively liberal regime, coal companies seeking rationalization of their work force, and a radicalized fringe group resulted in the strike. While rejecting pre-1989 depictions of the strike, the text argues that labor history helps to reveal the limits of Romanian interwar democracy in ways that political and legal approaches may not.

The Right to Work and American Inequality

Labor historians describe Right to Work (RTW) as among the most consequential pushbacks against the early twentieth-century ascent of labor unions. Yet research on the economic consequences of RTW remains mixed, with nearly all research centered empirically and theoretically on the time surrounding RTW passage. In the current study, I use 41 waves of longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics between 1968 and 2019 to empirically and theoretically extend the mechanisms that link RTW and economic outcomes. First, following the vast majority of research on RTW, I show the demobilizing effects for labor following RTW passage: mean wages decline, wage inequality increases, and the union premium is halved in the middle and lower portion of the wage distribution. Second, I move theoretical focus beyond the time surrounding law enactment, arguing for a second-order effect whereby RTW institutionalizes a logic of polarized economic distributions and low labor power. To test this mechanism, I develop a novel strategy of comparison across respondents who are differentially mobile across state boundaries. I find individuals who cross RTW contexts experience a unique decline in mean wages and increase in wage variance, but this distinct trend can be explained by state-level institutional variation across RTW and non-RTW states. Thus, RTW is not only consequential in the periods around its passage, but also in establishing a long-standing, high-inequality regime. Results reveal multiple mechanisms by which RTW contributes to the long-run processes of union decline and broadly shared inequality growth.

Incidence and Correlates of Preterm Birth at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital

Born before completing 37 weeks of gestation or 259 days from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period, preterm birth, as per WHO, is the leading cause of infant mortality globally. In 2013, it accounted for 1 million out of 6.3 million deaths among children under 5. While predominantly affecting developing nations, its impact extends worldwide, influencing maternal health and the survival challenges faced by premature infants. An investigation aimed to discern the prevalence of preterm birth and its associated factors at HRRH was conducted. This cross-sectional, institution-based study assessed mothers delivering newborns at HRRH from March 1st to 31st, 2021. A sample of 60 mothers was selected using simple sampling techniques. Face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires gathered data, which was coded, organized manually, and analyzed using SPSS for descriptive parameters. The study revealed a 33% prevalence rate of preterm birth. Risk factors identified included a history of preterm labor (P=1.00), premature rupture of membranes (P=<0.001), urinary tract infection during pregnancy (P=0.01), hypertension during pregnancy (P=0.836), history of malaria during pregnancy (P=0.003), and infant gender (P=0.144). Recognizing pregnant women at risk of preterm delivery and enhancing healthcare quality, community health education, and awareness campaigns are crucial steps to mitigate the incidence and consequences of preterm birth. Moreover, further research with larger sample sizes is warranted to explore additional associations leading to preterm birth. Keywords: prevalence, risk factors, preterm birth

Workers’ Resistance across Time and Space

The Hub Global Labour Conflicts provides scholars, students, activists, and other interested audiences with historical and contemporary data on workers’ collective actions. The project is hosted by the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam and aims to be a central resource for freely accessible labour conflict data from all over the world. By discussing how the Hub has evolved since its launch in 2015, this article reviews its accomplishments so far, its current limitations and potential areas for expansion. From this, we outline the ambition to make the Hub more global and thus even more strongly embedded within ongoing debates in global labour history. Thereby, we hope to introduce new audiences to the available data or enthuse you to contribute to the project.

The Prevalence of Acceptance Between General Anesthesia and Spinal Anesthesia Among Pregnant Women Undergoing Elective Caesarean Sections in Saudi Arabia.

Background The choice of anesthesia for an elective cesarean section should be based on an individual benefit-risk assessment, considering the pregnant woman's preferences, concerns, and the available medical expertise. This study aimed to determine the preferences for general and spinal anesthesia among women undergoing elective cesarean sections and the factors affecting their choice. Methods The study design is a cross-sectional study, and it was conducted on pregnant women to measure the acceptance of general anesthesia and spinal anesthesia in patients with elective cesarean sections in Saudi Arabia. Random pregnant women were invited to participate in this study across Saudi Arabia after fulfilling the inclusion criteria. A digital questionnaire was distributed across Saudi Arabia to be filled out by female residents. A Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, USA) sheet was used for data entry, while IBM SPSS software version 27.0.1 (IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Results The study included 813 participants; most (28%) of them were 25-30 years old. Of the study participants, 54% had chosen spinal anesthesia before, 22% had chosen general anesthesia, and 24% had chosen neither. Reasons to choose general anesthesia were reported as follows: 21.6% feared pain during surgery, 24.2% feared watching the surgical procedures on their bodies, 16.6% feared back pain, 12.8% feared being paralyzed, and 15.1% feared needles used to administer anesthesia in the lower back. Reasons for choosing spinal anesthesia were reported as follows: 26.3% had back pain concerns; 13% feared prolonged unconsciousness; 9.6% feared having a headache after surgery; 17% had post-surgery pain concerns; 30.1% wanted to be alert at the time of the birth of the baby; 10.6% feared the chances of experiencing nausea and vomiting; and 7.4% feared not being able to breastfeed. Conclusion Spinal anesthesia was chosen by more participants than general anesthesia. There was a statistically significant association between choosing spinal anesthesia and the number of previous pregnancies, parity, history of preterm labor, and recommendation to undergo general or spinal anesthesia by non-medical staff. It was also significant with the older age and higher educational level of participants. This decision may be influenced by a number of variables, the most significant of which are prior experience with general anesthesia or spinal anesthesia, educational attainment, and non-medical advice.

In Search of a “Newer and Truer” Literature: Thomas Phillips Thompson and The Labor Advocate

This article describes the uses of literature in The Labor Advocate: A Weekly Labor Reform Newspaper (Toronto, 1890-91). As editor of the Advocate, Thomas Phillips Thompson aimed to increase awareness of the means and consequences of industrial capitalism, and thus enhance the possibility of social justice for the working class. He did so in a mixed format periodical that included poetry, short fiction, and serialized novels as well as editorials, biographies, obituaries, reports, letters, and columns. Over forty-four issues, Thompson experimented with literary expression to attract readers and foster the democratic reform of social organization. Analysis of the Advocate points to the importance of communication strategies in both the early history of the Canadian labour press and the longer history of labour in transnational contexts.

The Growth of the Turkish Film Industry and the Death of Suphi Kaner: Articulating a Star’s Suicide to the History of Labour in Cinema

This article focuses on the death of Suphi Kaner by suicide in 1963, an incident that overlaps with the rapid growth of the domestic film industry in Turkey. Kaner’s tragic death is discussed in popular literature solely in relation to his alcohol addiction, his possible depression, and his inability to cope with sudden stardom, leaving almost unmentioned the key role of the boycott call of the Producers Association against him. In 1963, the power struggle between the producers and the star actors was very visible. Within the framework of this power struggle, producers made a boycott statement about Kaner, for allegedly interrupting the shooting of a film. I approach the chain of events that concluded with Kaner’s suicide as an early example of labour disputes in Turkish cinema. This case demonstrates that the scope of labour disputes in film industries encompasses even star actors who are often considered as a privileged class. I argue that Kaner’s suicide could have been avoided by fairer employment conditions, and if the Producers Association had not called for the boycott. To examine the case, I make use of a variety of historical texts including memoirs, auto-biographies, news pieces, interviews, and commentaries.

Transnationalism, class and national identity in the Cuban labour movement (1898-1902)

ABSTRACT For a Cuban anarchist movement intent on promoting harmonious class relations, attachment to national identity within the working classes was a divisive wedge which limited this objective. Transnationalism – understood here as the process of Spanish migration to Cuba, as well as the anarchist network between the U.S. and the Caribbean – combined with this divisive context; it intermeshed with a Cuban working class marked by their recent emancipation from Spanish colonial rule. On the one hand, this article will show how transnationalism was instrumental to building the strength of the anarchist movement in Cuba. Simultaneously, my intervention destabilizes conventional assumptions about transnationalism: rather than simply a generative process which inexorably led to the growth of anarchism in Cuba, it was constrained by, and at times reinforced, antagonistic relations on the basis of national identity. In doing so, this article furthers understandings of how transnational processes impact social movements, particularly in the context of imperial hegemony. Moreover, by foregrounding the domestic situation in Cuba and questioning the benefits of transnationalism, it reasserts the agency of Latin America in labour histories, rather than adopting the common framing of the continent being a passive recipient of influences from mainland Europe.

Labor in the Margins: Filipino Comics Workers in the US Comic Book Industry

ABSTRACT: This article recovers the work of Filipino comics artists. More accurately, it builds a history of their working conditions. Focusing on the case of Nestor Redondo, this article deliberately foregrounds the issues of labor, migration, and artists' rights in the US comic book industry. It examines the work of Filipino comics workers through the lens of racial capitalism, linking the experiences of Redondo and his peers to the broader histories of the globalization of Filipino labor. As such, it highlights the racial and colonial dimensions of labor in the comics industry and recognizes that histories of comics go hand in hand with histories of labor.

Toward a New History of Labor and Capitalism in Kentucky

Toward a New History of Labor and Capitalism in Kentucky

The Intimacies of Infrastructure: Histories of Exploitation, Labor, and Community Life in Territorial Arizona and Kentucky at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

The Intimacies of Infrastructure: Histories of Exploitation, Labor, and Community Life in Territorial Arizona and Kentucky at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

The Chaplin Vaccine: Immunization and Taylorism in Viktor Shklovsky's Theory and Fiction

Abstract: The article examines early-Soviet figurations of cinema as a vaccine capable of inoculating workers with corporeal efficiency. Within this cultural fantasy, Charlie Chaplin was appropriated by the Soviet avant-garde to play an unlikely role of an expert in the theory and practice of labor. Tracing the cultural contexts of Chaplin's cameo in Iprit (1925), a science-fiction novel by Viktor Shklovsky and Vsevolod Ivanov, this article shows that the search for immunity from labor exhaustion opens wider vistas of the history of labor that run through the biocapital of slavery into the Soviet adoption of Taylorist practices of bodily standardization.

That Student-Initiated Course in Socialism: Reflections on “Towards a Socialist America” Forty-Six Years Later

A labor history professor reflects on his experiences in the 1970s as a Wesleyan University undergraduate involved in a student-taught course called “Towards a Socialist America.”

A national screening for the prevalence and profile of disability types among Egyptian children aged 6–12 years: a community-based population study

AimThis study aimed to determine the prevalence of disability domains among Egyptian children in the age group of 6–12 years as well as assess their socio-demographic, epidemiological, and perinatal predictors.MethodsA national population-based cross-sectional household survey targeting 20,324 children from eight governorates was conducted. The screening questionnaire was derived from the WHO ten-question survey tool validated for the identification of disabilities.ResultsThe prevalence of children with at least one type of disability was 9.2%. Learning/ comprehension was the most prevalent type (4.2%), followed by speech/communication (3.7%), physical/ mobility and seizures (2.2% for each), intellectual impairment (1.5%), visual (0.7%), and hearing (0.4%). The commonest predictors for disabilities were children who suffered from convulsions or cyanosis after birth and maternal history of any health problem during pregnancy. However, preterm and low birth weight (LBW) babies or being admitted to incubators for more than two days were strong predictors for all disabilities except hearing disability. A history of jaundice after birth significantly carried nearly twice the odds for seizures (AOR = 2.2, 95% CI:1.5–3.4). History of difficult labor was a predictor of intellectual impairment (AOR = 1.5, 95% CI:1.1–2.0). A disabled mother was a strong predictor for all disabilities except seizures, while a disabled father was a predictor for visual and learning/ comprehension disabilities (AOR = 3.9, 95% CI:2.2–7.1 & AOR = 1.6, 95% CI:1.1–2.4 respectively). Meanwhile, both higher maternal and paternal education decreased significantly the odds to have, physical/ mobility and Learning/ comprehension by at least 30%.ConclusionThe study found a high prevalence of disability among Egyptian children aged 6–12 years. It spotted many modifiable determinants of disability domains. The practice of early screening for disability is encouraged to provide early interventions.

Unveiling the rise of Chinese volunteering from a civil and political engagement perspective

China, a country with a long history of government-coerced labour among commoners, has seen a striking rise of volunteering in the past three decades. At the same time, civil society in China has been rigorously constrained by the authoritarian state. This makes dubious the usually supposed linkage between volunteering and civil society development. Analysing a nationwide dataset, this study examines Chinese citizens’ volunteer participation from the civil and political engagement perspective. It finds that individuals’ engagement with the state, neighbourhood, and civil society all helped predict their decision to volunteer, but only a few factors concerning engagement in the neighbourhood and civil society were positively associated with volunteer hours when they decided to volunteer. The article concludes with discussion on the rise of volunteerism in contemporary China and its implication for civil society development.

Maternal near miss in a tertiary care hospital: A retrospective and prospective observational study

: Maternal mortality is an indicator of the quality of maternal health services provided in the country. Despite the therapeutic advances in obstetric care and growing perception of the safety of childbirth over the past few decades, maternal morbidity and mortality remain to be a challenge in developing countries like ours where little attention has been given to the near miss obstetric events. : To study the prevalence and clinical profile of Maternal near miss in a tertiary care center.: To evaluate the underlying disorders, contributory factors and socio-demographic variables among maternal near miss cases.: This observational study was undertaken at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) & associated Lok Nayak Hospital (LNH), New Delhi for a period of one year. The study population was the patients attending OPD or casualty or admitted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at LNH, MAMC, who fulfilled the MoHFW maternal near miss identifying criteria and whose case records were available. The data for the study was collected both retrospectively and prospectively from January 2019 to December 2021. Detailed history of patients like name, age, date of admission and presenting complaints were recorded. Obstetric history including history of previous pregnancy and labor, complications during present pregnancy, past and present medical problems were also recorded. For each case of MNM, the primary obstetric complication leading to near miss was evaluated.: There were 7064 live births during the study period. The study reveals a near miss ratio of 3.25 per 1000 live births. The near miss to mortality ratio was found to be 0.38:1 and the mortality index was 71.95%. Hemorrhage followed by hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were the most common disorders seen in near miss cases. All near miss cases required either HDU and/or ICU stay. The total requirement of blood and blood products by all near miss cases in the study was six whole blood, 61 packed red blood cells, 62 platelets and 42 fresh frozen plasma. The neonatal and perinatal mortality rate of our study was 38.8%.: A near-miss tool that is more generalizable, especially in a low-resource setting where many deliveries occur at home, needs to be developed. It should also be simple enough to be used by accredited social health workers, auxiliary nurse and midwife and other health care workers.

The Showmen's Culture: Life, Labor, and Negotiated Loyalty among Traveling Entertainment Workers in the Gilded Age

This article explores the formation of a “showmen's culture” among circus employees in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth, a cultural identity which had the effect of diffusing labor conflicts in this developing industry. The showmen's culture created an affective bond between employees of all levels, from manual laborers, to middle managers, to company owners. This article links cultural history and labor history and provides an example of how workers outside traditional manual-labor industries coped with the challenges of industrialization, and how proprietors used the same cultural identity to their own advantage.

Theories of capitalism and coloniality in world systems analysis, the Dar es Salaam School of history and the New Indian Labour History

How might we productively synthesize Marxist and postcolonial thought in order to bring questions of race and class, and imperialism and capitalism, into the same frame of analysis? In this short comment, I show how the Dar es Salam School of anti-colonial history, along with the New Indian Labour History inspired by the Dar School, can creatively bring together theoretical frameworks of different epistemes for a productive synthesis.