"The title of this book has a double resonance: it refers to the ways that factories on the U.S.-Mexican border both structure gendered labor forces and, in so doing, produce gender itself. Through case studies of employment and management in four different factories, Salzinger beautifully demonstrates the variability and flexibility of concepts of masculinity and femininity, the fact that they are context-dependent performative behaviors. The ethnographically based empirical data provided, as well as the sophisticated mastery of theory, make this book an unusually rich contribution to the fields of international labor and gender studies."--Joan W. Scott, author of "Gender and the Politics of History

"This is an archeology of gendering. Salzinger brilliantly traces the specificities, variability, and contingencies in the emergence of gendered subjects across different production environments, moving from femininity as attribute to femininity as generative. In so doing she launches a new phase in the study of women employed in off-shore production, with significant implications for women in factories generally."--Saskia Sassen, author of "The Global City

"This is a book Border Studies has been waiting for--a pathbreaking study of the gendered meanings and identities at work in the transnational assembly plants that dominate the social landscape of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. . . . It will surely become a classic in the field."--Pablo Vila, author of "Crossing Borders, Reinforcing Borders, "and "Ethnography at the Border"

"Establishes a new landmark in the study of everyday life in the modern metropolis. This book brilliantly integrates systematic theory and participant observation data. Forms of domination and resistance are poignantly captured in different social settings, and admirably related to economic and political forces. The volume will do more to enhance ethnographic research than any previous study in sociology."--William Julius Wilson, University of Chicago

"What is unleashed in "Ethnography Unbound is the theoretical and critical potential of exemplary urban fieldwork and pedagogy. This book by Michael Burawoy and his talented students sets an inspirational standard to emulate in the classroom and in the 'field'."--Judith Stacey, author of "Brave New Families

"Bravo! A book that explodes the barriers that prevent us from seeing, simultaneously, both the social world and our role in its making. The dichotomies of teacher/student, researcher/researched, and theory/data are subjected to a penetrating and refreshing scrutiny in this unique project."--Rick Fantasia, author of "Cultures of Solidarity

"Burawoy and his colleagues have rediscovered the ancient truth that participant observation is well-suited to understanding the larger society as well as microsocial life. Moreover, they have made that rediscovery superbly. The essays are of high quality and I hope that the book will increase yet further the current interest in participant observation and ethnography."--Herbert J. Gans, author of "People, Plans and Policies