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The Meaning of “Free” Work: Service as a Gift, and Labor as a Commodity for Ni-Vanuatu Labor Migrants


Type

Book chapter

Change log

Authors

Abstract

Rather than accept formal commodity-like contractual definitions of ‘free’ labor, this chapter reflects on the ambivalence in Mauss’s concept of “prestations totales” (‘total services’) to reconsider the ‘voluntary character’ of work. It discusses Vanuatu’s colonial and unfree labor history, as well as the impact of overseas labor migration on attitudes to work in contemporary Vanuatu. It shows how the meaning and value of ‘free work’, both in terms of working without payment, or working autonomously, depends on the worker’s standpoint within their social and political relations, and how they confront their social obligations.

Description

Title

The Meaning of “Free” Work: Service as a Gift, and Labor as a Commodity for Ni-Vanuatu Labor Migrants

Keywords

labour, work, gift, contract, Vanuatu

Is Part Of

Work, Society and the Ethical Self: Chimeras of Freedom in the Neoliberal Era

Book type

Publisher

Berghahn Books

ISBN

1800732252
9781800732254

Rights

All rights reserved