Globalized Garment Systems: Theories on the Rana Plaza Disaster and Possible Localist Responses
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Since 2005, more than 1,300 people in Bangladesh – the majority women – have died, while producing apparel for Western, especially United States, markets. Today, the US imports 97.5 percent of its apparel, mostly from developing countries such as Bangladesh. However, such import reliance was not always so. By examining past and present garment systems in the United States, my thesis seeks to address injustice in globalized garment systems, and suggest new directions for the future. The Rana Plaza factory collapse disaster thus is presented as a case study of injustice in globalized garment systems. In this thesis, I hypothesize that globalized garment systems stand to benefit from a critical examination using a lens of localism. Drawing from local foods research as an example of academic and cultural convergence towards improved justice, I identify critical themes from localism in foods, and apply them to globalized garment systems.
DOI: 10.25710/pqf5-gy33
Author: Evans, Elizabeth A.
Institution: Western Washington University
Language: English
Subfield: Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2399188370