Communication as governmentality: transnational corporate social responsibility comes to the Chinese countryside
Ellen Hertz (University of Neuchâtel)
In this talk, I will follow the life of a "capacity building program" conceived and implemented by a Chinese BONGO (business-oriented non-governmental organization) working at the behest of global brands in the area of labor rights and working conditions. I will sketch out the various moments of "translation" that marked the creation of this project, highlighting the resistance, the slippage and the perverse effects that it produced. I argue that contemporary (and rapidly changing) forms of governmentality in contemporary China must be studied in the light of the multiples points of conjuncture that Chinese actors currently experience with logics of governmentality and (de)responsibilization promoted by a transnational economic elite.
Date:
18th of June 2019, 16:00-17:30h
Venue:
University and City Library of Cologne
3rd floor, Room BVI
Kerpener Str. 20 (Entrance)
50937 Cologne
uni-koeln.de