Dr. Patrick Neveling
Ph.D. Student (Scholarship holder 03/2008 - 08/2008)
Dissertation defense: 27.11.2012
Predicate: summa cum laude
Contact
Patrick Neveling
Institut für Sozialanthropologie
Länggassstrasse 49A
CH-30 Bern
phone: ++41 31 631 50 99
fax: ++41 31 631 42 12
patrick.neveling@hist.unibe.ch
Manifestations of Globalisation: Relations of Labour and Exchange in the Mauritian Textile and Garment Industry
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Burkhard Schnepel
This project is conceptualised as an ethnographic study of the Mauritian textile and garment industry with a focus on world-systemic developments and their local consequences. After an Export Processing Zone was founded on the island in 1970, massive foreign and local investment turned this industry into the first economic success story of the country’s post-colonial years. During the following 20-year period of ever growing industrialisation textile factories spread all over the island and reached even the remotest coastal villages. Yet, after the World Trade Organisation was founded in 1995 global trade is being liberalised step by step and Mauritius is losing its preferential export quotas to western markets. In the last decade more and more foreign and local companies delocalised their production to China and India.
Research was carried out for nine months in 2003/2004 in a suburban setting, a "cité ouvrieres", various local archives and factories. The effects of industrialisation and deindustrialisation on Mauritian society and every day life, changes in women’s role in society, workers rights, housing and consumption patterns, constituted the main focus. In a second step the international, transnational and Mauritian actors involved in and affected by the process were identified. Different explanations, conceptualisations and translations of global and local developments will be integrated into an ethnohistorical narrative dealing thus with manifestations of globalisation in the Mauritian context.
Curriculum Vitae
| 03/2003-present | Junior Lecturer (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), Institute for Social Anthropology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg Selected courses on: political anthropology, economic anthropology, ethnography of Mauritius, history and culture of the Indian Ocean region, anthropology of work, etc. |
| 02/2003 | MA (Social Anthropology, Oriental Philology/Indonesian Languages, Philosophy/University of Cologne), MA Thesis: "Colonial and national borders as a framework for Indonesian-Australian relations." |
| 1996-present |
Member of the German Greek Theatre, Cologne (Dramatic structure, Fund raising, Executive Board) www.dgt-koeln.de |
| 10/1997-08/1999 | Multimedia editor and campaigner, Media against racism, Cologne |
| 10/1996-03/1997 | Freelance researcher and campaigner, Media Watch/Heinrich Böll Foundation |
Empirical research
| 02-08/2004 | Ethnographic fieldwork in Mauritius/Reunion |
| 07-09/2003 | Ethnographic fieldwork in Mauritius |
| 07-10/1997 | Ethnographic fieldwork in Sulawesi/Indonesia |
Research Projects
Manifestations of globalisation: Changing relations of production and exchange in the Mauritian garment industry
In search of the lost state (Research and art project at the International Summer School "Neustaat" in Halle-Neustadt, Thalia-Theatre/Bauhaus Foundation, completed)
Selected publications
| 1997 | Umweltjournalismus auf Holzwegen. Köln: Media Watch/Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. |
| 2005 | Von Verlorenen, Besessenen und ewig Suchenden. Halle-Neustadt: Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, Thalia-Theater Halle: Internationale Sommerschule "Neustaat", Halle-Neustadt. |
| 2005 | Ekonomický rozvoj na Mauríciu: globálny èi lokálny. In: Zahranièná politika IX (5): 19-21. |
Selected conference papers
| 07/2006 | 1st meeting, Network of Junior Researchers on Natural Desaster (Katnet), Centre for Environmental Research Leipzig, paper: "Naturkatastrophen als Ausgangspunkt wirtschaftlicher Umstrukturierung und Weltmarktanpassung: Die Folgen zweier Cyclones in Mauritius, 1960". |
| 05/2006 | Annual meeting, Section for Development Sociology and Social Anthropology, German Sociological Association, University of Passau, paper: "Naturkatastrophen als Ausgangspunkt wirtschaftlicher Umstrukturierung und Weltmarktanpassung: Die Folgen zweier Cyclones in Mauritius, 1960". |
| 03/2006 | International Conference, Multiple Identites in Action: Mauritius and the Antillean Parallelism, University of Halle-Wittenberg, paper: "For the sake of prosperity: two Mauritian families between traditionalist, modernist and postmodernist identification". (invited) |
| 07/2005 | Anthropological research colloquium, Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Cologne, paper: "Manifestationen der Globalisierung: Zur Veränderung von Austausch- und Arbeitsbeziehungen am Beispiel der mauritianischen Textilindustrie". (invited) |
| 09/2004 | 29th German Congress of Oriental Studies, Halle: panel convenor and chair (with Claudia Liebelt); theme: "Borders, states, and globalisation". Paper: "Weltwirtschaft, Staat und Widerstand in einer ’entgrenzten’ Zone: Ein Arbeitskampf in einer mauritischen Textilfabrik". |
| Winter 1997 | Student Body Council, University of Cologne, Convenor and chair, Public lecture series: "Soziale Frage und …?" |
Study Day Contributions
- Spirits of Capitalism and the De-alienation of Workers: a Historical Perspective on the Mauritian Garment Industry