Michael Como


Michael Como Entered 2007 mjc8h@virginia.edu
Socio-Cultural Anthropology Regional focus: Argentina Topical interests: Political and Economic Anthropology, Argentina, Humanism, Labor, Participatory Democracy, Labor Unions/Organization. At present I am interested in forms of decision making in the 'recuperated' or worker-run workplaces in Argentina. Since the economic crisis in 2001, worker appropriated businesses have taken on considerable roles in creating alternative social, political and economic institutions in Argentine society. As part of a unique form of what would anthropologically be termed 'communitas', the local term horizontalidad emphasizes a distinctly non-hierarchical way of approaching interpersonal relations that has been carried into the daily operations of the worker-run businesses. Relevant questions on this topic which I hope to address are: In what ways are decisions made in the workplace which are similar or different from the ways they are made in more hierarchically organized businesses? To what extent are these businesses integrated or mutually supportive of each other? How have workers' and the surrounding communities' ideas of community, political efficacy, property, value, and personal relations been affected by the worker-run businesses? How do people identify themselves politically, economically, linguistically, or otherwise as a result of becoming involved with the worker-run businesses? What is the nature of the relationship between the worker-run businesses and local, national, and international political institutions? Papers, Presentations, and Awards: 2006 Undergraduate Award- Society for Humanistic Anthropology Honors in the Major Program-Florida State University 2006 Presenter- Negotiating Language and Power: Passive Responsibility as Social Action Among Bilingual Salvadoran Immigrants in Suburban Long Island-Meeting of the Minds Conference-Clemson University 2006 "Negotiating Language and Power: Passive Responsibility as Social Action Among Bilingual Salvadoran Immigrants in Suburban Long Island." (May 18, 2006) Florida State University D-Scholarship Repository, Article #172: http://dscholarship.lib.fsu.edu/undergrad/172

Entered 2007
mjc8h@virginia.edu

Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Regional focus: Argentina

Topical interests: Political and Economic Anthropology, Argentina, Humanism, Labor, Participatory Democracy, Labor Unions/Organization.

At present I am interested in forms of decision making in the 'recuperated' or worker-run workplaces in Argentina. Since the economic crisis in 2001, worker appropriated businesses have taken on considerable roles in creating alternative social, political and economic institutions in Argentine society. As part of a unique form of what would anthropologically be termed 'communitas', the local term horizontalidad emphasizes a distinctly non-hierarchical way of approaching interpersonal relations that has been carried into the daily operations of the worker-run businesses. Relevant questions on this topic which I hope to address are: In what ways are decisions made in the workplace which are similar or different from the ways they are made in more hierarchically organized businesses? To what extent are these businesses integrated or mutually supportive of each other? How have workers' and the surrounding communities' ideas of community, political efficacy, property, value, and personal relations been affected by the worker-run businesses? How do people identify themselves politically, economically, linguistically, or otherwise as a result of becoming involved with the worker-run businesses? What is the nature of the relationship between the worker-run businesses and local, national, and international political institutions?

Papers, Presentations, and Awards:

2006 Undergraduate Award- Society for Humanistic Anthropology
Honors in the Major Program-Florida State University 2006
Presenter- Negotiating Language and Power: Passive Responsibility as Social Action Among Bilingual Salvadoran Immigrants in Suburban Long Island-Meeting of the Minds Conference-Clemson University 2006
"Negotiating Language and Power: Passive Responsibility as Social Action Among Bilingual Salvadoran Immigrants in Suburban Long Island." (May 18, 2006) Florida State University D-Scholarship Repository, Article #172:
http://dscholarship.lib.fsu.edu/undergrad/172