{"title":"Despotism on the shop floor: Foreign company labour governance in Ethiopia's industrial park","authors":"Yonas Tesema","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12902","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n <p>In recent years, Ethiopia has become a prime destination for labour-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing industries by virtue of its favourable investment climate and cheap labour. This article examines the labour governance and disciplinary strategies of foreign companies in Ethiopia's industrial park, focusing on the Blue Apparel Company (BAC) in the Bole Lemi Industrial Park, Addis Ababa. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from August 2021 to August 2022, the study reveals how relaxed labour regulations and the absence of trade unions enable foreign firms to enforce strict, profit-driven governance. The analysis highlights despotic management practices, hierarchical power dynamics and their impact on local workers. The findings shed light on the intricacies of labour control in globalized production regimes and highlight the challenges workers encounter in emerging economies.</p>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"40 4","pages":"8-12"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8322.12902","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Anthropology Today","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8322.12902","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In recent years, Ethiopia has become a prime destination for labour-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing industries by virtue of its favourable investment climate and cheap labour. This article examines the labour governance and disciplinary strategies of foreign companies in Ethiopia's industrial park, focusing on the Blue Apparel Company (BAC) in the Bole Lemi Industrial Park, Addis Ababa. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from August 2021 to August 2022, the study reveals how relaxed labour regulations and the absence of trade unions enable foreign firms to enforce strict, profit-driven governance. The analysis highlights despotic management practices, hierarchical power dynamics and their impact on local workers. The findings shed light on the intricacies of labour control in globalized production regimes and highlight the challenges workers encounter in emerging economies.
期刊介绍:
Anthropology Today is a bimonthly publication which aims to provide a forum for the application of anthropological analysis to public and topical issues, while reflecting the breadth of interests within the discipline of anthropology. It is also committed to promoting debate at the interface between anthropology and areas of applied knowledge such as education, medicine, development etc. as well as that between anthropology and other academic disciplines. Anthropology Today encourages submissions on a wide range of topics, consistent with these aims. Anthropology Today is an international journal both in the scope of issues it covers and in the sources it draws from.