Working the night shift: Episode 2
Working the night shift: Episode 2
NightWorkPod (NWP) documents experiences while working the night shift. NWP is inspired by my research into the sociology of the invisible migrant night shift workers in London. I am Julius-Cezar MacQuarie, and I am an anthropologist. I took up research at night when I learnt that night shift workers were invisible in the scholarly literature (mostly focusing on night life), as well as from public debates. Seven years later, NWP was born.
NWP does not focus on night life in global cities, but it acknowledges that in such cities that never sleep revellers and party-goers enjoy night entertainment which is sustained and maintained night-by-night by those up and working – the nocturnal people. The workers who appear in the NWP are the folks who keep these cities awake, spinning at an incessant speed and consuming round-the-clock, night-in, day-out.
Episode two highlights experiences of two professionals and long-term London residents, a public health practitioner and a fire fighter. They share how night shift work impacts on their bodily, physiological rhythms, and the challenges that each face according to the nature of the jobs they have been doing over the years. Two important sectors of work: health and emergency services part of the firefighting industry rely on professionals working the night shift through rotation. George and Phil are the two nocturnals whose voices are heard in episode two. Please beware that this episode may contain disturbing content, which is narrated by a Romanian artist, Natalia Carata, herself a London resident.
Episode: 2
Time: 36’19”
Date: August 2018
Place: Interviews recorded in London. Produced at Central European University, Centre for Media, Data and Society, Budapest, Hungary
Guests: Georgina Perry, Public Health Practitioner, London; Phil Horsley, Fire Fighter - First Respondent, London
Voice Over: Natalia Carata, Actress, UK
Synopsis: In this second episode, two professionals and long-term London residents, a public health practitioner and a fire fighter, share how night shift work impacts on their circadian rhythms, and the challenges that each face according to the nature of the job that they have performed over the years. Two important sectors of work, health and emergency services part of the firefighting industry rely on professionals working the night shift through rotation.
Vignette #2
Georgina Perry
"I tried in London, to redress the harshness of this city by being a human being, and offer human support, and I think that’s the only way I could be in this city and keep my sanity, really…"
Click here to listen to the full episode
For a full transcript click here
To see a photo grid of some of the night workers, please click here
About the author and this collaboration with MV
Julius-Cezar MacQuarie is the creator of NightWorkPod and founder of N!GHTSPARKS. He graduated in 2018 with a PhD in Sociology and Social Anthropology from the Central European University. As Nightlaboratory collaborator and filmmaker, he co-directed “Invisible Lives” with Tim Marrinan (UK, 2013). Watch the trailer of his next short film: The Sleepless Bat. To get in touch please tweet: @tweetsfromdrjc // Web Profile: www.nightsparks.london
Migrant Voice and N!GHTSPARKS collaboration began through conversations in a shared kitchen at Ladbroke Grove, West London, over six years ago. We discussed our interests and potential projects to collaborate on. Fast forward to 2018. An exciting opportunity to produce a podcast series arrived. Combined, our work rests upon Migrant’s Voice experience in providing platforms for migrants to speak out and the research rigour behind the doctoral study on bodily precariousness and cooperation among manual labourers in the New Spitalfields market, East London. Our plans for future collaboration are exciting and in-the-making. Stay tuned and watch it as our story unravels.