Autoqueen Trilogy, Part II

  In the second installment of the Autoqueen Trilogy, we revisit Mohana Sundari, a thirty-nine-year-old woman living in Tamil Nadu in southern India. Mohana is part of a small but growing group of women driving auto rickshaws in the capital city of Chennai. Part...

Autoqueen Trilogy, Part I

Autoqueen Trilogy, Part I features Mohana Sundari, a thirty-nine-year-old woman living in Tamil Nadu in southern India. Mohana is part of a small but growing group of women driving auto rickshaws in the capital city of Chennai. Many, even in India, are unaware that...

Re:Work and the IRLE Present “Labor Studies 101”

It’s back-to-school season, and we’re sharing a recording of “Labor Studies 101” from our archives at the IRLE, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. In this episode, our IRLE director, Toby Higbie, interviews Kent Wong, our previous long...

Stranded

In 2020, India suddenly went into a national lockdown without advance planning or adequate government support, which led to a humanitarian crisis in addition to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Millions of jobs disappeared and hunger was a serious issue. Tens of millions of migrant workers struggled to get home — often on foot — and many died attempting the journey. In this episode, we bring you the story of Gulzar, a migrant worker who left his village as a child and traveled across the country, to earn money to support his family.