Hatice Yıldız, 'Sleeping at the Factory Gates: Gender, Industrialisation, and Time Regulation in Bombay Cotton Mills, 1870-1890'.
4pm (GMT), Wednesday 2 December.
The cotton textile industry formed the mainstay of Bombay’s economy under the British rule. It accounted for about three-quarters of the workforce engaged in factories. Its development shaped economic activities both in the city and its wide hinterland. Based on an analysis of official and unofficial sources, including photographs, memoirs, and newspaper articles, this research explores the patterns of time use in Bombay cotton spinning and weaving factories in the late nineteenth century. It suggests that a transition from irregular to regular work patterns did not occur with the emergence of mechanised production in Bombay. Rather, industrial capitalism flourished through a complex interaction of task-oriented and clock-measured labour, producing divergent temporal experiences for female and male operatives.
Chaired by Diana Paton, and co-hosted by the Histories of Gender and Sexuality Research Group.
Once again, this seminar will take place online. Access the virtual seminar space here.