In forest‐fringe areas of India's Sundarbans, young men at the intersection of low caste and class become invested in electrical repair and maintenance work – as a gendering practice that enacts a specific logic of care. This work takes embodied knowledge (tongue), thoughtful improvisation (tape), and lifelong commitment (time) to fragile things and people in need. Tongue, tape, and time make the difference between good and bad care – between good, honourable men and men who do not or cannot care. In a place of changing aspirations but lasting deprivations, the costs of caring are expensive for men of limited means, and yet the costs of not caring cause the same men to suffer from unanticipated forms of gendered vulnerability. In this article, electrical workers’ caring masculinities are analysed in their political, economic, and moral dimensions to reveal ongoing tensions in the social constitution of (gendered) personhood: as care both obviates and causes ruination, these tensions must be constantly smoothed out for care to maintain its generative potential. Informed by fifteen months of fieldwork on an island of India's Sundarbans, the article seeks to trouble repair and maintenance work as care work – for care both does and undoes both men and things.

中文翻译：

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舌头、胶带和时间：印度孙德尔本斯电气维修和维护工作实践中充满关爱的男子气概


在印度孙德尔本斯的森林边缘地区，处于低种姓和阶层交叉点的年轻男性开始投入到电力维修和维护工作中——作为一种性别歧视实践，制定了特定的护理逻辑。这项工作需要具体的知识（舌头）、深思熟虑的即兴创作（磁带）以及对脆弱事物和有需要的人的终生承诺（时间）。舌头、磁带和时间决定了良好的护理和不良的护理——善良、可敬的人和不关心或不能护理的人之间的区别。在一个愿望不断变化但长期匮乏的地方，照顾费用对于财力有限的男性来说是昂贵的，但不照顾的成本又会导致同样的男性遭受意想不到的性别脆弱性。在本文中，从政治、经济和道德维度对电力工人的关爱男性气概进行了分析，以揭示（性别）人格的社会构成中持续存在的紧张局势：由于关爱既避免了毁灭，又导致了毁灭，因此必须不断地消除这些紧张局势，以实现可持续发展。照顾保持其生成潜力。这篇文章以印度孙德尔本斯岛十五个月的实地考察为基础，试图将修理和维护工作视为护理工作——因为护理既会造成人和物的影响，也会造成破坏。