How has Sri Lanka’s apparel sector fared in the wake of a series of crises? How have workers navigated various waves of change brought on in recent years, such as the COVID-19 pandemic? In this article, Kanchana Ruwanpura explores these questions and more. Importantly, she draws on 20 worker testimonies to do so. As Ruwanpura states in the article, “[l]istening to women workers’ voices is […] pivotal at this critical moment in Sri Lanka” (p.17). Check out the abstract below, and then click through to the main article to learn more:
Tenacity Besides Depletion: Pandemics, Protests, and Workers from the Sri Lankan Apparel Sector
Peer-reviewed research by: Kanchana Ruwanpura
Sri Lankan apparel has conventionally crafted itself as a niche and ethical supplier. Staying with this record, shifting to PPE (personal protective equipment) production, a tripartite agreement on minimum wages and a furlough scheme were key successes during the pandemic. However, the recurrent absence of living wages resulted in varied worker experiences. I use written testimonies from women garment workers to raise pivotal questions on how the lives of workers started to deplete during the pandemic and yet it did not prevent women workers from claiming differently—underlining slivers of hope, where depletion and tenacity are constant bedfellows. The pandemic was when Sri Lankan apparel’s dis/articulation within global production processes came about. Contributing to feminist political economy readings of global production processes, I illustrate how depletion and tenacity are no binaries; acknowledging these spaces of hope offers the potential for agentive action.
Click here to read the full open-access article, published in 2024 in the journal Antipode
Full Reference //
Ruwanpura, K. N. (2024). Tenacity Besides Depletion: Pandemics, Protests, and Workers from the Sri Lankan Apparel Sector. Antipode.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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