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Explores how labour struggles in the post-1977 period in Sri Lanka provided important resistance to capitalist processes.
List of contents
Acknowledgements; List of Published Works and Funders; List of Tables, Figures and Images; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction: Global Labour Justice via Ethical Codes; 2. Labouring for Apparels: Labour Geographies and Feminist Inflections; 3. Fieldwork: Prolonged Phases and Multiple Moments; 4. Clothing the World - Guilt Free? Sri Lanka's Apparel Landscape; 5. Neglected Labour Histories: the Sri Lankan State Responds to Labour; 6. Ethicality with a Blind Eye? Ethical Code Practices at Production Sites; 7. From War to Work: Ethicality Amidst Post-War Trauma? 8. Concluding Thoughts: Grounded Governance?; Appendix; References; Index.
About the author
Kanchana Ruwanpura is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Gothenburg. She was previously Reader at the Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh. Her focus areas for both research and teaching are uneven development, environmental debates, research ethics and feminist politics.
Summary
Uses an analytical framing informed by labour and feminist perspectives to explore how labour struggles in the post-1977 period in Sri Lanka provided important resistance to capitalist processes and continue to shape the industry both within and outside of the shop floor.
Additional text
'This book comes at a critical moment in the history of global garment production, with the utility of ethical corporate codes under renewed scrutiny in a pandemic ravaged industry. Ruwanpura argues that ethical codes do not simply travel to places, to be either vernacularized or forcibly imposed. Instead, global lexicons of ethicality are given meaning through their interpellation into 'local' mores and social/ethnic hierarchies. Outcomes are contingent on always shifting and contentious political terrains, including militarization and ethnic pacification in this instance, and corresponding spaces for contestation. Through fine-grained ethnographic and historical analysis, Ruwanpura argues that Sri Lanka's 'success' in implementing global governance regimes arises from its strong history of labor mobilization – including labor's ability to negotiate with the state and push back against tropes of sacrificing for factory, family and nation. Garments without Guilt is a significant and valuable addition to the scholarship on the global garment industry.' Dina M. Siddiqi, New York University
