Book Launch: Does Skill Make Us Human? Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond
Presented by Dr. Natasha Iskander and co-sponsored by NYU Wagner's Office of International Programs and the Hagob Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU
Date: Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Time: 5-7pm Eastern Time
Location: Virtual Zoom Webinar
Overview:
Skill—specifically the distinction between the “skilled” and “unskilled”—is generally defined as a measure of ability and training, but Does Skill Make Us Human? shows instead that skill distinctions are used to limit freedom, narrow political rights, and even deny access to imagination and desire. Natasha Iskander takes readers into Qatar’s booming construction industry in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup, and through her unprecedented look at the experiences of migrant workers, she reveals that skill functions as a marker of social difference powerful enough to structure all aspects of social and economic life, including responses to climate change.
Natasha Iskander is an Associate Professor at NYU Wagner, whose research investigates the ways in which migrants shape the political and cultural landscapes of the spaces they occupy. Professor Iskander will be joined by NYU Wagner Dean Sherry Glied who will introduce the panelists Miriam Ticktin, Yaw Nyarko, and Andrew Ross, whose work and projects span from urbanism and environmental justice to alternative economics and humanitarianism.
Speakers:
Sherry Glied, Dean, Professor of Public Service, NYU Wagner
Natasha Iskander, Associate Professor, NYU Wagner
Yaw Nyarko, Professor of Economics, NYU; Director, NYU Africa House/CTED; Co-Director, NYU Development Research Institute; Director, NYU Abu Dhabi DevLab
Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU College of Arts and Science
Miriam Ticktin, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology City University of New York
Natasha Iskander's book, Does Skill Make Us Human?: Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond is now available for purchase.