Through looking through different historians, writers and contributors I definitely learned a lot about myself. I love history but putting things in into the canvas of the "bigger picture" always has me understanding history better. Perhaps one of the most interesting articles I read was written by Kaveri Qureshi, who takes these ideas of politics, race, and class and show how these conflicts impact
working lives in his in-depth look into male Pakistan working class life. Especially because I have recently been looking into my own health and wellness, seeing some history on how issues of politics and gender in different parts of the world have affected the body is one that I wanted to look more into.
Qureshi writes a gender history but links how class, race and politics are all involved and take shape in chronic illness and bodily deterioration in the working class. His analysis differs from other historians because he actually takes in personal accounts of Pakistan working men and conducts further research shown in his ethnography. The basis of Qureshi’s argument is through a transnational approach. Qureshi describes this as a" general assumption that migrants themselves prioritize transnationalism that allows its authors to present it as of greater importance than the labour process.” The link of capital and transnational is created as he describes a man named Yunus, whose “economic conditions substantially constrained his capacity to engage in transnationalism.” In this approach, Qureshi describes the importance of Pakistani transnationalism and its social effects that lead to discrimination, which in turn leads to physical deterioration. As the Pakistani working class becomes marginalized by further legislation restricting their migrations, they are further subjugated to harsh working conditions to pay for their transnational lifestyles. As work becomes less necessary for employers and a necessity of skill and trade sweeps the working class, questions of masculinity come into question during the times of unemployment. At the end of this cycle are these discriminatory repressions in the form immigration legislation that takes shape in physical bodily deterioration. Qureshi states that, “the hardships of the migration and labour process exacted a toll on the men’s bodies, which made the practice of transnationalism… more burdensome than we are led to believe.” This analysis goes on to show how the racial discrimination from the Commonwealth Immigration Acts, work its way into conflicts regarding class, race and politics, and can also lead to physical ailments.
This ends my week wanting to know more, but I also want to get into different ideas that are a little closer to home. No history is more important than the other, which makes reading and writing about history so interesting.
Qureshi writes a gender history but links how class, race and politics are all involved and take shape in chronic illness and bodily deterioration in the working class. His analysis differs from other historians because he actually takes in personal accounts of Pakistan working men and conducts further research shown in his ethnography. The basis of Qureshi’s argument is through a transnational approach. Qureshi describes this as a" general assumption that migrants themselves prioritize transnationalism that allows its authors to present it as of greater importance than the labour process.” The link of capital and transnational is created as he describes a man named Yunus, whose “economic conditions substantially constrained his capacity to engage in transnationalism.” In this approach, Qureshi describes the importance of Pakistani transnationalism and its social effects that lead to discrimination, which in turn leads to physical deterioration. As the Pakistani working class becomes marginalized by further legislation restricting their migrations, they are further subjugated to harsh working conditions to pay for their transnational lifestyles. As work becomes less necessary for employers and a necessity of skill and trade sweeps the working class, questions of masculinity come into question during the times of unemployment. At the end of this cycle are these discriminatory repressions in the form immigration legislation that takes shape in physical bodily deterioration. Qureshi states that, “the hardships of the migration and labour process exacted a toll on the men’s bodies, which made the practice of transnationalism… more burdensome than we are led to believe.” This analysis goes on to show how the racial discrimination from the Commonwealth Immigration Acts, work its way into conflicts regarding class, race and politics, and can also lead to physical ailments.
This ends my week wanting to know more, but I also want to get into different ideas that are a little closer to home. No history is more important than the other, which makes reading and writing about history so interesting.
Sources
Kaveri Qureshi,
“Pakistani Labor Migration and Masculinity: Industrial Working Life, The Body,
and Transnationalism,” Global Networks 12/4
(2012): 486.
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