Understanding Globalization

Research Activity 2: Understanding Globalization* Step 1: Read Chapter 5 in Asking Questions about Cultural Anthropology: A Concise Introduction by Welsch and Vivanco (your intro text book). Step 2: Look at the tag on an item of clothing. Try to figure out the path it took to get to you and how it may have impacted the lives of the people who produced the item. Some tips for figuring it out: Start with the location of manufacture. How are those people treated? How does it get to the U.S. from there? Look at the materials (cotton/synthetics) and research where these materials tend to be produced. Look at up the manufacturer. Find out how their workers are treated. You can use online research for this, but make sure you are tracing where your information is coming from. For example, if you use Wikipedia (which I don’t recommend) check the citations at the bottom of the page to find the original source and make sure it is accurate. The Human Rights Watch website may be useful for this assignment Step 3: After finding out as much as you can about how and where your item of clothing was made: Write a brief summary that describes what you uncovered during your research.  What do you know about the country/countries where your clothing item was made? If your clothing item was not made in the United States, why do you think it was made overseas? Who profits from the clothing being made in other countries and sold here? Who suffers or is exploited because as a result of this system? How is this path of production and consumption related to the anthropology of Globalization?