Thesis advisor: Deborah Levenson / The emergence of the concept of Fair Trade has inspired a new form of supply-determination by socially conscious consumers. Since it began official certification, Fair Trade has served as a tool to curb the exploitation of labor. It has also promoted direct connections between vendors and producers, organized participatory democracy, continuity in trade relations, respect for the environment, movement toward equal status of gender, and living wages for workers. Small family farmers now produce over 51 percent of coffee in the world, and 90 percent of the world's cocoa. With a History Honors Thesis, I seek to examine the use of worker-owned recuperated factories of Argentina for the production of Fair Trade footwear and apparel. Such factories require more complicated chains of supply (primary materials, numerous factories for production, contractors, transportation, warehouses, and retail) than primary materials such as coffee. Started in the 1980s, the recuperated factories in Argentina may provide the complex links to a sweatshop-free market, which have been lacking. The experiment has exploded to about 180 businesses since an economic crisis in 2001 forced owners to flee and workers to gain expropriation, half through legislation and half through occupation, according to journalist Andrés Ruggeri. My project seeks to investigate whether chains of production and distribution of complex Fair Trade certified or sweatshop-free products, using recuperated factories in Argentina, could serve as an economic alternative for manufactured Fair Trade products. By pursuing in-depth research on this project and understanding porteño culture and labor struggles, I have built a strong foundation for a thesis. My independent study project for the School for International Training during my Fall 2005 semester abroad in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil) became my passion and provides preliminary background information. Basing the project on interviews I had conducted with workers from ceramics, textile, and shoe recuperated factories all over, I found evidence of new supply chains with words from key leaders like Raul Godoy, Vasco Abelli, and Luis Caro (Control Obrero, El Movimiento Nacional de Empresas Recuperadas, and El Movimiento Nacional de Fábricas Recuperadas por los Trabajadores). I also became personally involved in the network of founders of current trade groups based in Argentina, with whom I will consult for my work on the History Honors Thesis. Building directly on research interests, and especially the interviews that I conducted in my semester in Argentina, I will address the complexities of the philosophical foundations, key figures, and actions that have comprised the vast history of labor in Argentina from its pre-capitalist mutuales artisan communities up to the contemporary situation with close academic mentorship from Professor Levenson. With plentiful sources of information, I will document each prospective or current deal to produce for Fair Trade distributors, develop an understanding of which products are feasible for ethical supply chains, analyze the success of such collaborations with new distributors, and compare and contrast them with business for former or other clients. Portions of the movement vary in ideology and vision, but all seek to maintain relations with former distributors. The primary concern is surviving and gaining expropriation, but the movement is witnessing a series of new strong inter-relations and projects for Fair Trade. There is a hopeful outlook for the recuperated factories, and integration into a Fair Trade market is a feasible goal for the next era (2006-2011) of the movement. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2007. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History. / Discipline: History Honors Program.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_102130 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Blair, James |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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