游擊文化

Being a Craftsman: Life, Work and Social Mobility of Trailer Makers in Kaohsiung
我的黑手父親：港都拖車師傅的工作與生命

Author Chia Hsin Hsieh 
Photograph Chih-Hsuan Wu
ISBN: 9789860660449
Date: 11/2021
Pages: 328
Length: 103,373
Rights Sold: Korean (Sanzini)

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• Nominated for the 2022 Taiwan Literature Awards
• Nominated for the 2023 TIBE Book Prize (Nonfiction)
• Nominated for the 2022 Openbook Awards

The author sketches a picture of the blue-collar world where trailer truck mechanics from Kaohsiung live: they study in an apprenticeship system where they “learn by doing”; after their apprenticeship is over, they continue to refine their skills and make a living while negotiating with bosses and look out for one another. It also examines how these mechanics give up on upward mobility and are satisfied with being a mechanic rather than becoming a boss.

As the daughter of a blue-collar worker, her closest proximity to being a blue-collar isn’t her father, but rather, her father’s admonishment, “If you don’t study hard, you are bound to become a workman like me!”

Since little, she has always been kept at arm’s length from her father’s work. Her parents used her father’s occupation as a cautionary tale, and it was her duty to study hard to avoid becoming a blue-collar or a mechanic. On the other hand, her father’s occupation, including her father himself, told of a dire future when one failed to get good grades at school.

It wasn’t until a sociology course in college, where conversations regarding “blue-collar” surfaced, that she embarked on her journey of self-discovery. She then proceeded to truly get to know her father and his job as a trailer mechanic in graduate school.

She was puzzled, “Father made a living and kept us healthy and fed using his skills; why did he treat himself and his job as dirt?” “Why are these old-timers so proud of their professional skills, but treat their jobs with such shame at home? ”

The key to solving this conflicting dual identity crisis comes from the life experiences of her grandparents, her parents, and the author herself. She also wondered, “Why do skills seem less worthy than academic degrees in Taiwan? When people believe that getting prominent degrees translate to getting a good job, can your degrees truly live up to the hype? And what counts as a good job? Are mechanics really so worthless? ”

This is a moving ethnography which captures authentic Taiwanese sentiments while still retaining serious sociological analysis, as well as rich cultural textures and real-life connections. The author sketches a picture of the blue-collar world where trailer truck mechanics from Kaohsiung live: they study in an apprenticeship system where they “learn by doing”; after their apprenticeship is over, they continue to refine their skills and make a living while negotiating with bosses and look out for one another. It also examines how these mechanics give up on upward mobility and are satisfied with being a mechanic rather than becoming a boss.

For anyone interested in topics ranging from the relationships between occupations and jobs, family relations, to education and industry, this book offers moving stories on the dilemma between skills vs. academic degrees, and is definitely worth your time!

Hsieh, Chia Hsin

Born in 1987, Hsien holds a master’s degree from National Tsing Hua University Institute of Sociology.

Hsieh is the daughter of a trailer mechanic in the industrial city of Taiwan-Kaohsiung. In order to get close to her blue-collar family and her father’s work, she launched a research of trailer mechanics in graduate school.

Her master thesis received numerous academic awards including outstanding fieldwork award from the Taiwanese Sociological Association and outstanding master’s thesis award from Taiwan Science, Technology & Society Association.