Skill, status, and stratified lives: An international study of the 2022 Football World Cup construction workers
In the lead-up to the 2022 Football World Cup, skill in Qatar’s booming and technically advanced construction industry is more than a measure of ability. Through unique access to construction sites in Doha, in-depth research, and interviews, Associate Professor Natasha Iskander reveals that skill acts as a marker of social difference powerful enough to limit freedom, narrow political rights and structure all aspects of social and economic life, including health and safety, migration policy, responses to climate change, and global industry innovation. Based on her latest book, Does Skill Make Us Human? Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond, this online discussion will include comparisons with the USA.
This webinar will be chaired by Professor Greg Bamber, Director, International Consortium for Research in Employment & Work (iCREW), Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School, with a comment by Virginia Wills, Vice President, Industrial Relations Society of Victoria.
Speaker
Natasha N. Iskander, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, Wagner School of Public Service, New York University, USA. 
Natasha Iskander conducts research on the relationship between migration and economic development. She looks at the ways that immigration and the movement of people across borders can provide the basis for the creation of new knowledge and of new pathways for change. She has published widely on these questions, including on migration, skills, economic development, and workers’ rights. In addition to her research, she engages in development work with partners ranging from the World Bank to small NGOs, internationally and in the United States, on issues of urban development, migration and development policy, and migrant worker right.
Event Chair 
Professor Greg Bamber, Director, International Consortium for Research in Employment & Work (iCREW), Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School.
Commenter
Virginia Wills, Vice President, Industrial Relations Society of Victoria.
Organised by
Centre for Global Business’ (CGB) International Consortium for Research in Employment & Work (iCREW) in collaboration with the Industrial Relations Society of Victoria.
Register now
Event Details
- Date:
- 19 July 2022 at 8:00 am – 9:00 am
- Venue:
- Online - Zoom
- Categories:
- Global Business; General; International Consortium for Research on Employment and Work
Description
In the lead-up to the 2022 Football World Cup, skill in Qatar’s booming and technically advanced construction industry is more than a measure of ability. Through unique access to construction sites in Doha, in-depth research, and interviews, Associate Professor Natasha Iskander reveals that skill acts as a marker of social difference powerful enough to limit freedom, narrow political rights and structure all aspects of social and economic life, including health and safety, migration policy, responses to climate change, and global industry innovation. Based on her latest book, Does Skill Make Us Human? Migrant Workers in 21st-Century Qatar and Beyond, this online discussion will include comparisons with the USA.
This webinar will be chaired by Professor Greg Bamber, Director, International Consortium for Research in Employment & Work (iCREW), Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School, with a comment by Virginia Wills, Vice President, Industrial Relations Society of Victoria.
Speaker
Natasha N. Iskander, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, Wagner School of Public Service, New York University, USA.
Natasha Iskander conducts research on the relationship between migration and economic development. She looks at the ways that immigration and the movement of people across borders can provide the basis for the creation of new knowledge and of new pathways for change. She has published widely on these questions, including on migration, skills, economic development, and workers’ rights. In addition to her research, she engages in development work with partners ranging from the World Bank to small NGOs, internationally and in the United States, on issues of urban development, migration and development policy, and migrant worker right.