Why Study And Understand The World?
An Exercise in Understanding Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism
1) Check the labels of your shoes, shirts, pants and whatever other items of clothing you are wearing. Cut/paste/cite your answers below. Use quote marks for any direct quotes. Some possible research resources are located at the bottom of this page.
2) List the country of origin for each, here:
a) shoes
b) shirt(s)
c) pants
d) coat, jacket, sweater etc.
e) backpack or book-bag etc
3) From these, choose either the country you know the least about, or the most common country of origin (if two or more items come from the same country).
4) Do a web search on this country. Find it on a map, and then find the following information (cite each of your sources (just name the source and cut/paste the URL beneath the relevant information)):
A) What, to the best of your understanding, are the working standards of the person or people who manufactured your item of clothing? List average work day/week in terms of hours, working conditions, avg. pay etc.
B) What, to the best of your understanding, is the living standard of the person or people who manufactured your item of clothing? Include: access to clean drinking water, plumbing, public education, health care etc.
C) What is the average per capita income of people in this country?
D) What is the average life span of people in this country?
E) What is the civil liberties or human rights status of this country, according to Amnesty International or the UN?
F) Are labor unions – such as those representing clothing and garment workers – legal in this country?
G) Is child labor common in this country? Is it used in the textile industry (that produces shoes, clothing etc.)?
H) What is the child mortality rate in this country?
I) Was this country ever a colony, and if so, under which empire and from what dates?
J) Has or does the United States had or have a military relationship with this country? That is, have we ever been involved militarily with this country either directly (fought wars, supplied troops) or indirectly (trained troops, supplied weapons, supported one side of a war financially)? Does the United States currently have troops stationed in this country?
K) What form of government does this country currently have, and what form(s) has it had for the past 20 or so years? Is the country a democracy, dictatorship...etc.? How did the current leader come to power?
RESEARCH RESOURCES
For basic, general info on countries, Wikipedia is fine, but also try:
For "Sweatshop" oriented information, try (yes, most of these resources are biased):
www.cleanclothes.org
www.nlcnet.org
www.responsibleshopper.com
www.nosweatapparel.com
www.mwgapparel.com
www.sweatx.net
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/
Rawlings Baseballs (.pdf file)
Sweatshop Companies (Excel file, with links)
(Thanks to TJ Adams for many of these resources!)