Michaela Fink – författare

Ethiopia, though remaining one of the least urbanised countries in the world, has taken impressive actions to transform the state into a more industrialized nation.Several industrial parks have been built in recent years throughout the whole country.

Many children in Namibia find themselves facing a social crisis. They have been abandoned or abused, are malnourished, homeless, or live in shacks that barely provide any protection. However, amidst these disastrous living conditions, children have developed remarkable survival skills, and come up with equally clever and disillusioned analyses of their situation.For three years, Michaela Fink and Reimer Gronemeyer conducted interviews in Namibia with women who take care of vulnerable children. The book gives these children a voice in interviews and essays.

The Ethiopian textile industry is particularly affected by high labor turnover. In a compelling social study, Michaela Fink investigates the causes of this issue, focusing primarily on the voices of the (female) workforce. She illustrates the tension between rural, community-based orientations of women workers and the industrial working environment in which they find themselves. For the women, it is often a balancing act between the rural world they come from and the urban consumerist world they live and work in. They are attracted to modern values of career, consumption and urbanity. At the same time, it is hardly possible for them to achieve modest prosperity.