1st 4 Tuesdays, 3-4:15pm, SH 4631A
Saturday, 4/14/2007, 8am-4pm, Garment district in LA
(Transportation to and from the Garment district in LA will be provided.)
Enrollment Code: 50310
From sit-ins and building takeovers in universities to pickets at brand-name retailers to protests at gatherings of the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, anti-sweatshop activism has grown at the beginning of the 21st century. But just as the sweatshop is no new phenomenon, so too this is not the first time that outraged consumers and labor activists have protested the low wages, poor working conditions, and social disorganization associated with the sweatshop in garments and other industries. Whereas a century ago, the sweatshop represented un-American conditions of immigrants, symbolized family breakdown through child and female labor, and hinted at disease and decay, today it appears as the worst expression of the new unregulated, global economy. This course considers the past and present of the sweatshop, focusing on representations by defenders and detractors as well as its social, economic, and political contexts. Students will explore current events in light of historical ones. Seminar includes a field trip to Los Angeles to the garment district.
Professor Eileen Boris, Women's Studies, teaches many lower and upper division classes in feminist theory. Her main area of research is women's labor and the culture of work. This seminar is part of an initiative to develop labor studies at UCSB.
