Our Daily Work, Our Daily Lives
"Our Daily Work / Our Daily Lives" is a joint project that focuses on the artistic traditions of workers and on workplaces as contexts for the expression of workers culture. The richness and diversity of workers' experiences and workers culture is explored and presented through an ongoing series of exhibits, lectures, and presentations; writing and research projects; reunions; and demonstrations and discussions.
The program was established in 1992 and is coordinated by the Michigan Traditional Arts Program at the MSU Museum and the Labor Education Program in the College of Social Science's School of Human Resources and Labor Relations.
Planning the Brown Bag Series for the Fall and Beyond!
Yes, the brown bag series will live on. We have a number of things waiting for final scheduling. Thanks to our collaboration with Ten Pound Fiddle and the incomparable Sally Potter, we have added two wonderful musical brown bags with Dom Flemons and Sparky and Rhonda Rucker! Look for the following presentations next year:
Superworkers in the Rat Race': Addiction, Neoliberalism, and the Debut of the Workaholic
"Superworkers in the Rat Race" revisits the cultural moment of the "workaholic" in the 1970s and 1980s. Dr. Milloy argues that American fascination with this then-novel concept reflected how people were debating, discussing, and processing larger changes in capitalism, work, and technology. Historicizing workaholism also reveals insights into women's experiences in professional work and the growing influence of the addiction metaphor in American culture.
Speaker: Jeremy Milloy, Department of History, Wayne State University
Date/Time:
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
And available as an online webinar at https://msu.zoom.us/j/97496813137 the password is odwodl.
Working the Tip Jar: Patronage and Culture in the Control of Service Workers on Nashville’s Honky-Tonk Row
Speaker: Adam Schoenbachler, Sociology Department, Vanderbilt University
Date/Time:
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
Abandoned by the State: Deindustrialization, Informalization, and Coal Miners' Lives in Zonguldak, Turkey
Speaker: Mehmet Eroglu, MSU Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences
Date/Time:
Thursday, November 7, 2024
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
Co-sponsored by the MSU Asian Studies Center
Soldiers of Production: Lansing and the Arsenal of Democracy
Speaker: Michael Rodriguez, MSU Libraries
Date/Time:
Thursday, November 18, 2024
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
Working the Ranch and Range: The Music of the Black Cowboy
Performer: Dom Flemons, Folk Performer
Date/Time:
Friday, January 27, 2025
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
In conjunction with the Ten Pound Fiddle / Co-sponsored by African American and African Studies
The Limits of Prosperity: Women's Work and Class in the Department Store
Performer: Marissa Knaak, MSU Department of History
Date/Time:
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
Co-sponsored by the MSU Center for Gender in Global Context
Managerialism, Codetermination, and Democracy: Intellectuals and Workers Confront 1950s West Germany
Speaker: Sean Forner, MSU Department of History
Date/Time:
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
The Road to Rights: Domestic Workers and the New Labor Activism Since 1960
Speaker: Mia Michael, Department of History, Wayne State University
Tentative Date/Time:
Friday, March 14, 2025
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
Co-sponsored by the MSU Center for Gender in Global Context
Laboring to Build a Nation: Working People's Music across America
Performers: Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, Folk Performers
Date/Time:
Friday, March 28, 2025
12:00pm - 1:15pm ET
Location: Green Room, MSU Library
In conjunction with the Ten Pound Fiddle
Our Daily Work, Our Daily Lives Audio Archive
Thanks to all of the folks at the MSU Vincent Voice Library who have worked with us to create this archived set of recordings for Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives.
Follow these steps to access all of the recordings we have cataloged thus far:
- Start at the MSU Library Homepage: https://lib.msu.edu
- Type in search box "Our daily work, our daily lives brown bag series"
- Click on "See More »" in the Books & Media box
- As of 4/4/23, there are 136 results for the series!