|
|
|||
|
||||
OverviewOver the past half-century, El Salvador has transformed dramatically. Historically reliant on primary exports like coffee and cotton, the country emerged from a brutal civil war in 1992 to find much of its national income now coming from a massive emigrant workforce over a quarter of its population that earns money in the United States and sends it home. In American Value, David Pedersen examines this new way of life as it extends across two places: Intipuca, a Salvadoran town infamous for its remittance wealth, and the Washington, DC, metro area, home to the second largest population of Salvadorans in the United States. Pedersen charts El Salvador s change alongside American deindustrialization, viewing the Salvadoran migrant work abilities used in new lowwage American service jobs as a kind of primary export, and shows how the latest social conditions linking both countries are part of a longer history of disparity across the Americas. Drawing on the work of Charles S. Peirce, he demonstrates how the defining value forms migrant work capacity, services, and remittances act as signs, building a moral world by communicating their exchangeability while hiding the violence and exploitation on which this story rests. Theoretically sophisticated, ethnographically rich, and compellingly written, American Value offers critical insights into practices that are increasingly common throughout the world. Full Product DetailsAuthor: David PedersenPublisher: University of Chicago Press Imprint: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 9781283855761ISBN 10: 1283855763 Pages: 337 Publication Date: 01 January 2013 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Undefined Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In stock We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately. Table of ContentsReviewsAuthor InformationTab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |