Garments without Guilt?

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.

• 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.

'In Garments without Guilt? Dr Ruwanpura unpacks the global clothing industry's complexities as they play out in her home country, shining a nuanced light on ethical clothing initiatives in practice. Drawing on over 10 years of fieldwork, she highlights how Sri Lanka's better track record complying with health and safety codes compared to its South Asian neighbors is rooted as much in workers' movements and agency as it is in industry-led initiatives. Dr Ruwanpura also makes a compelling case that freedom of association, living wages, and humane treatment on the shop floor are ethical codes that remain a site of ongoing struggle.' Annelies Goger, Brookings Institution, Washington DC