He explored what young professionals experience when working for internationally operating chains such as Gold’s Gym and Starbucks and how this is influenced by socio-economic backgrounds. How do these ‘new professions’ compare to more traditional professional categories? At this talk, Dr. Baas showed that highly specific expectations of the body and physical/verbal presentation play a particularly important role in the way these young professionals give shape and meaning to their respective careers. In his analysis he furthermore drew upon previous research among Indian IT professionals in Bangalore and Indian student-migrants in Australia to place his findings in a broader context of the changing dimensions of the Indian middle class.

About the Speaker

Dr. Michiel Baas is currently a fellow with Nalanda University (New Delhi & Rajgir). He was previously a senior research fellow with the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore and a coordinator with the International Institute for Asian Studies (Amsterdam & Leiden, the Netherlands). He holds a PhD from the University of Amsterdam and the book that was the result of his PhD research was published in 2010 titled Imagined Mobility - Migration and Transnationalism among Indian Students in Australia (Anthem Press).