Abstract

This article examines the modes of time and work discipline that emerged through factory industry in colonial Bombay. Based on a wide range of archival sources, it shows that mechanized production did not invariably suggest a transition from task-based, irregular to clock-measured, rationally organized work patterns. Operating simultaneously within temporal orders constructed by the global economy, agriculture, family, and community, cotton mills combined new disciplinary practices with a flexible approach to labor. Gender, marital status, religion, skill, and position in the manufacturing chain influenced the pace and duration of work as well as subjective experiences of time at the factory. By maintaining the diversity and flexibility of time organization, mill owners could adjust production to fluctuations in market demand. At the same time, the strategy facilitated and obscured exploitation. As the industry grew, workers developed a language of resistance that emphasized the value of regular and standard work patterns defined with reference to clock hours and calendar days. In the factories of colonial Bombay, clocks were not just symbols of discipline and subjugation but also instruments of resistance and negotiation.

中文翻译：

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殖民地孟买的时间政治：棉纺厂的劳动模式和抗议

摘要

本文考察了在殖民地孟买的工厂行业中出现的时间模式和工作纪律。基于广泛的档案资料，它表明机械化生产并不能总是暗示着从基于任务的，不定期的到按时钟测量的，合理组织的工作模式的转变。棉纺厂在全球经济，农业，家庭和社区构建的时间顺序内同时运行，将新的纪律做法与灵活的劳动方式相结合。性别，婚姻状况，宗教信仰，技能和在制造链中的位置影响了工作的节奏和时间以及工作时间的主观体验。通过保持时间安排的多样性和灵活性，工厂所有者可以根据市场需求的波动来调整产量。与此同时，该战略促进和掩盖了剥削。随着行业的发展，工人开发了一种抵制语言，该语言强调参照时钟时间和日历日定义的常规和标准工作模式的价值。在殖民地孟买的工厂中，时钟不仅是纪律和征服的象征，而且还是抵抗和谈判的工具。