Code Work
Hacking across the US/MĂ©xico Techno-Borderlands
HĂ©ctor BeltrĂĄn
- 216 pages
- English
- ePUB (adapté aux mobiles)
- Disponible sur iOS et Android
Code Work
Hacking across the US/MĂ©xico Techno-Borderlands
HĂ©ctor BeltrĂĄn
Ă propos de ce livre
How Mexican and Latinx hackers apply concepts from coding to their lived experiences In Code Work, HĂ©ctor BeltrĂĄn examines Mexican and Latinx coders' personal strategies of self-making as they navigate a transnational economy of tech work. BeltrĂĄn shows how these hackers apply concepts from the code worlds to their lived experiences, deploying batches, loose coupling, iterative processing (looping), hacking, prototyping, and full-stack development in their daily social interactionsâat home, in the workplace, on the dating scene, and in their understanding of the economy, culture, and geopolitics. Merging ethnographic analysis with systems thinking, he draws on his eight years of research in MĂ©xico and the United Statesâduring which he participated in and observed hackathons, hacker schools, and tech entrepreneurship conferencesâto unpack the conundrums faced by workers in a tech economy that stretches from villages in rural MĂ©xico to Silicon Valley.BeltrĂĄn chronicles the tension between the transformative promise of hackingâthe idea that coding will reconfigure the boundaries of race, ethnicity, class, and genderâand the reality of a neoliberal capitalist economy divided and structured by the US/MĂ©xico border. Young hackers, many of whom approach coding in a spirit of playfulness and exploration, are encouraged to appropriate the discourses of flexibility and self-management even as they remain outside formal employment. BeltrĂĄn explores the ways that "innovative culture" is seen as central in curing MĂ©xico's social ills, showing that when innovation is linked to technological development, other kinds of development are neglected. BeltrĂĄn's highly original, wide-ranging analysis uniquely connects technology studies, the anthropology of capitalism, and Latinx and Latin American studies.