Paper Short Abstract:

In this paper I analyse the interrelation between local culture and economic practices in Chalkida, Greece, a cement production site, vis-à-vis the national and international processes in the cement industry by examining the life and work histories of cement factory workers.

Paper Abstract:

In today’s global economy, cement plays a vital role in the formation of everyday worlds. From its production to its consumption, various forms of socio-economic practice are intermediated and woven into a multi-layered mesh that binds global markets with local realities. In this paper I examine the case of Chalkida, Greece, a mid-sized (post)industrial city which from 1924 to 2013 hosted a cement production unit that determined its industrial character. Its closure had been a major shock for Chalkida’s society as it has provided the means for multiple generations to make a living and to move up the social ladder. I treat the factory as an interscalar node which links global economic processes with local practices in order to unravel the importance of the cement industry in the making and unmaking of certain livelihood patterns. I examine through an historical perspective the political economy of Chalkida in relation to industrial labor and homeownership as well as the multiple opportunities and livelihoods that the industrial production of cement had enabled. I analyse the interrelation between local culture and economic practices found in Chalkida vis-à-vis national projects of development and global processes in the cement industry. I draw on ethnographic data which I collected in Chalkida between 2015 and 2016 and the life and work histories of cement factory workers and their families.