DISCARDSCAPES OF FASHION

DISCARDSCAPES OF FASHION

LEILANI JIMENEZ

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POSTCOLONIAL RESISTANCE IN POST-CONSUMER TRANSBOUNDARY TEXTILE WASTE MANAGEMENT, FROM THE US TO SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA

WHAT IS A ZINE? In a short documentary by Truly CA on the San Francisco Bay Area zine scene, punk publisher V. Vale suggests the genesis of zine culture: “I think you can go back to, in America, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which is still an up-to-date manifesto--it’s a zine expressing all these American ideals of freedom, liberty, tolerance - and he had to publish that himself, that is a zine!” The Cornell University Library offers a concise timeline of the history of the zine, from Luther's 95 Theses (which marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation) to the zine fests and small presses of the present-day.

The following timeline references Aisha Conner-Gaten's PowerPoint, which can be accessed in the "References" section at the end of this zine. From the cited page, you can also access zine archives, and resources on "Making Zines."

• • • • • • • • • •

1517: Luther’s 95 Theses as the first major zine (specific, self-made and published) 1770s: American Revolution broadsides 1920s: Surrealist and dada (artists and the avant garde critique of the bourge ois) 1930s: Sci-fi (fans met at conventions and readings; the publication of zines such as Amazing Stories and Weird Tales) 1940s: Beat poetry chapbooks, such as Allen Ginsburg and San Fran friends 1950s: Samizdat (Soviet Union DIY; this was literature secretly written, copied, and circulated in the former Soviet Union and usually critical of practices of the Soviet government) 1960s: Comics (industry news and information magazines, such as The Comic Reader, as well as interview, history and review-based fanzines) 1970s: Punk fanzines and zines (zines about established punk culture, bands, direct action and non-conformity) 1990s: Riot grrl zines Today: Zinefests, zine distros/small presses, and zine libraries galore!

WHY ARE ZINES IMPORTANT? • • • •

Zines provide spaces for marginalized voices and stories that are excluded from traditional publishing Zines challenge us to think about authority in differing contexts Zines reframe topics we talk about in class and life Zines allow us to channel our thoughts creatively into art

FRAMEWORK

THROUGH THE LENS OF A ZINE / ZINES AS PROTEST

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Through the framework of the zine, audiences can better understand the relationship between the US and countries in the East African Community, in South Africa, in shared regions. This creative project informs and challenges the reader to think critically about their role in a postcolonial context. In the spirit of zines from the late 20th century, this zine disseminates political information in an accessible medium. Zines have historically served as critical acts of resistance during punk and feminist movements at the end of the twentieth century. Additionally, there is some irony in that the zine was created as a visually appealing product and in some ways, it appeals to the consumer impulse as an object to possess.

However, because zines are traditionally made for free or just priced to cover the cost of production (which is usually low), the zine again subverts its tangible format, a product of consumption only in the intellectual or socio-cultural sense. Zines can be viewed digitally or printed, kept as a tangible form of art to further lend visibility to women’s agency in the Global South and resonate as an act of resistance.

The zine is primarily intended for young adults on the older end of Generation Z (born 1997 - 2012) and younger end of the Millennial generation (born 1981-1996). According to a poll of 30,000 consumers in 60 countries by the global research firm The Nielsen Corporation, 73% of Millennials are willing to spend more on brands with some aspect of sustainability.

However, in 2019, North America was the largest region in the fast fashion market. Although this zine identifies the role of the reader as a consumer, it does not attempt to place full responsibility on the American consumer. Yes, many Americans will likely come to better understand the more discrete impacts of fast fashion and transboundary textile waste as a concept, but concrete changes to institutions themselves must be made. The zine serves to dismantle assumptions and provide consumers with greater transparency concerning the textile industry but acknowledges that ultimately a values shift - not a shift in participation as a consumer - can affect long-term change, both in the US and abroad, in countries based in South and East Africa that feel the brunt of this economic exchange.

As stated in the previous section, the same people who can only afford to buy fast fashion are the ones most affected by the fashion industry’s negative effects on climate change. And to this extent, the same people whose clothing options are limited to fast fashion, are consumers in the same system that exports billions in textile waste to ‘developing’ countries, perpetuating the dependence and offloading threats to human health and the environment in the Global South.

Of course, transparency is critical, but not enough to substantiate a change in the lives of those in poverty.

My purpose is to provide the reader with a vision that suggests the most critical changes that should be made to secure humane and environmentally sustainable solutions. This paper serves as a catalyst for additional research on the Global South.

This zine was produced in fulfillment of a Creative Project, which is the culmination of my studies at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. It was completed under the direction of Dean Olga Davis and Professor Charles Ripley from August 2020 - May 2021.

The same people who can only afford to buy fast fashion are the ones most affected by the fashion industry’s negative effects on climate change.

Sustainability is a very attractive concept today. The ability to afford higher quality clothing serves as a social currency. In my own experience growing up as a young ‘Gen-Z’-er, brand awareness of socio-political and socio-economic issues have increasingly become a critical focus of marketing tools. Akin to environmental greenwashing as defined by The Cambridge Business Dictionary, ‘woke-washing’ leads people to believe that a company is doing more to promote social consciousness and well-being than it really is. Woke-washing attempts to turn the potential buyer into the ‘activist’ consumer. While greenwashing might look like a pledge to offset a brand’s environmental impacts, a company participating in ‘woke-washing’ might attempt to perform as allies in social causes like Black Lives Matter. On the surface, the commodification of sustainability and activism seems to promise a cleaner and more ethical future. However, it can be difficult to interpret the actual environmental and social impacts of the fast fashion industry and textile recycling companies. For instance, these groups would like to suggest that their sustainability or recycling efforts relieve the U.S. of environmental damages, when in fact these damages are only rerouted to the Global South or covertly tipped to impact those who live in poverty.

Fast fashion brands like H&M attempt to renegotiate their business identity as sustainable on the surface, especially through textile recycling programs like The Garment Collection Program. However, while H&M officials claim that up to 95% of textiles tossed to landfills could be reused (as cited by Mary Hance for the USA Today Network), only 0.7% of the materials used in new clothing produced by H&M’s brands are recycled, according to the company’s 2016 sustainability report (as cited in GBH, a partner of PBS and NPR). Although natural fibres like cotton and wool are biodegradable (as opposed to synthetics like polyester), their quality lowers when they’re broken down. So instead of being manufactured into new clothing, 35% of collected clothing “is recycled and used for products like carpet padding, painters’ cloths or insulation, as stated by CBC News. Under the guise of a recycling campaign,

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H&M incentivizes clothing donations by offering 15% future purchases. The collection is managed by I:Collect, which also handles clothing donations of brands like Levi’s, Adidas, and Reebok. Still, H&M continues to tell its customers “Shred it into fibres and stitch into something new,” and “Let’s tear your jeans and make new jeans out of them.” It does not, in fact, recycle said clothing as purported. In fact, CBC reports, “most of the donations it collects end up in second-hand clothing markets, often in Africa and Central and South America.”

11 Prior to a manufacturing crisis incited by colonial powers’ interference in the 1600s, India was a major cotton supplier of rich and colorful textiles in key markets. According to “The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500-1850,” “India clothed the world.” In 1500, cotton textiles were “the centre of manufacturing life of the Indian subcontinent.” The quality of garments from India was widely recognized; in Africa, cotton textiles were a kind of currency; in Southeast Asia, workers could be paid in textiles; in Europe, the textiles marked an individual’s middle or upperclass status, creating a kind of “cultural space.” Cotton textiles often made their way from India to Indonesia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and West Africa; in the 1660s, suppliers expanded into Persia, Central Asia, the Ottoman Empire, Eastern Europe, and China. At this time, there was a strong network of non-Western markets for Indian cloth. However, in the early 1500s, Portuguese traders became more involved with the intra-Asian trade, and by 1700, “Indian Ocean trade was firmly Indo-European in character.”

One key transitional point in textile trade arrived with the Battle of Plassey in 1757.

Conflict accelerated as The East India Company felt India’s trade fees were unfair and wanted to expand their settlements in India to bolster trade. They tried to oust the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Dauluh (who had overrun many British trading posts), and replace him with someone they’d be able to manipulate, Mir Jafar, who would stand in as a puppet. Jafar took the bribe. Other Bengali generals followed suit, bribed, and promised power. When Daulah became aware, he retaliated, demanding now that the EIC pay taxes, stop interfering with government affairs, and refused to allow them to expand their settlements. Because of a lack of international law, it could be difficult for powers to develop and enforce any contracts. The Battle of Plassey ensued, and the Nawab fled when loss seemed imminent - then, Jafar was instated as the British puppet, as Britain tightened its grip on Bengal’s affairs, expanding political control and access to key port locations with trading stations and forts along coastal regions. They manipulated their way into bargaining power, also relying on indigenous systems of informal control to enter trade systems. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, Europe’s market expanded; by 1790 the British were making their own cheaper replacements of cloths and taking over Southeast Asian markets. West Africa too had once had a long history of cotton production, but began to import textiles; slave traders also forced West Africans into slavery. As Europe

was expanding, “between the 17 and 19th centuries, some 10.6 million survived the infamous Middle Passage” in the transatlantic slave trade. By the 1850s, India was no longer the world producer of cotton textiles. The Indian economy declined as Britain expanded beyond the Indian Ocean and became the center of manufacturing.

In retrospect, India may initially appear as a ‘victim’ of the early European textile industry, but the characterization is not so straightforward. India’s narrative and relationship with the EIC offer evidence of resistance to colonial domination through a refusal to compromise and claim dignity. It reveals just how deeply colonial authority and control are embedded into the world economic system. Postcolonial theory maintains the task to not only disrupt these ideological frameworks that privilege colonial powers but dismantle the tension between history as it is remembered by those in power and collective memory.

Just how should we examine history? Several models attempt to characterize the contentious existence of colonial powers. For one, the imperialism model suggests that India’s decline was not primarily caused by European trading companies like the EIC, but that India simply experienced a manufacturing crisis prior to colonial interference and was not able to recuperate. Another theory is that Europe’s industrialization and technological innovations led to their achievements. The great divergence model states that agency belongs to neither Europe nor Asia because the two should be seen as one landmass, Eurasia. But trade is a global phenomenon - nevertheless, divergence theory suggests that Europe diverged from Asia as a result of “a long, arduous and not always successful process that entailed not just the successful deployment of factors of production, but also the putting in place of complex mechanisms of knowledge transfer, assessment of quality, fashionability, etc.” The theory suggests that India simply didn’t keep up with the innovation of European politics, technology, and trade. Reflecting on the intentional interference of British forces, whereby they were able to establish fortifications and install a political power they’d be able to control, not one of these theories recognizes the entirety of the historical narrative and resistance to colonialism. Further reading on the sources cited here can be found in the “References” section under “Bunting,” “Riello and Roy,” and “Subramanian.”

Historical Background: Colonialism

Theoretical Basis The theoretical basis for this research relies on Dependency Theory, which provides a lens for “situations in which the economy of certain countries [are] conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy to which the former is subjected, according to Brazilian economist Theotônio dos Santos in Elisabeth’s Farny’s text. In this case, the United States as a power of the Global North is the “core”, which is distinct from states in South and East Africa, located in the “periphery” of the Global South. Some of the main features of the periphery and semi-periphery include: “a high penetration of foreign capital, a heavy technological dependence from the leading countries, the overall subordination of the productive capacities of the country towards the interests of the evolving international division of labor, [and] the concentration of exports on a few commodities and recipients,’” according to Austrian political scientist Arno Tausch, cited in Farny.

While Rwanda attempts to reach economic success in its break from dependence on U.S. trade agreements, it still may risk a similar relationship in the form of soft imperialism as Chinese manufacturers attempt to insert themselves into economic gaps. Other states like those unable to break away from the African Growth and Opportunity act and structural adjustment can be assessed under this theory.

Though, Dependency Theory might be most helpful in clarifying these countries’ challenges for global equality and understanding their separation from access to the benefits of globalization channeled by the Global North. Breaking away from the roots of colonialism will require engaging with poor countries in ways that perceive them as capable rather than helpless and in a spirit of respect and cooperation.

As demonstrated in support of these statistics as well, Rwanda’s journey into development can not singularly focus on economic liberalization, but must reinforce intellectual freedom - a task Western donors never prioritized. Yes, after the 1990s, aid programs from Western donors and financial institutions often held “political conditionalities'' to regulate states in the Global South. But despite these outward attempts at keeping the peace, autocrats can still manipulate the system to sway concern and stay under the radar enough to avoid direct intervention. For instance, in 1991, the World Bank and Western donors withheld aid from Malawi and Kenya until they agreed to become multi-party democracies. As seen in this case study and the anecdote of Madagascar’s financial collapse, development on the basis of political and economic conditionalities leads to far different results than could be achieved by intentional nurturing of rounded human development.

Political conditionalities are an informal and ineffective way to expect states to alter conduct. Not only can states subvert political conditionalities, but development efforts should not be limited to shortterm economic growth at the expense of human well-being. It is not that Western donors do not anticipate these priorities, but that low- and middle-income countries are strategically underrepresented in decision making. When a country secures a loan from the World Bank or IMF, they must consent to the lenders’ design for economic reform. As cited by Anup Shah, in A Fate Worse Than Debt, Susan George explains how structural adjustment perpetuates poverty and dependence on high-income countries: “Debt is an official tool. It ensures access to other peoples’ raw materials and infrastructure on the cheapest possible terms. Dozens of countries must compete for shrinking export markets and can export only a limited range of products because of Northern protectionism and their lack of cash to invest in diversification. Market saturation ensues, reducing exporters’ income to a bare minimum while the North enjoys huge savings. The IMF cannot seem to understand that investing in… [a] healthy well-fed, literate population … is the most intelligent economic choice a country can make.”

While Ayittey recognizes that democracy is not always the solution for developing countries, he firmly notes that “Africa’s postcolonial experience suggests ineluctably that democracy is vital to sustain it.”

Even the World Bank’s ‘economic success stories’ hit a political ceiling without open politics and democratic reform, especially states run by dictators: “Cameron, Ivory Coast, Ghana, The Gambia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zaire and Zimbabwe” are such examples, where crisis incites grievances left unanswered by closed politics. At the same time, with a majority Hutu (85%, versus 15% Tutsi) population, democracy may not be completely viable without real constitutional protections allowing Tutsis veto power over discriminatory legislation, and even potentially an additional Parliamentary Chamberto equally represent the ethnic groups. Ayittey suggests that there should be 10 delegates for three groups, where vetoes require 25 votes. Such a parliamentary system government might ensure greater representation. Without representation or a way to air out grievances, the country may face violent tensions and even risk another war, as the Ivory Coast and Madagascar have.

When five African states of the East African Community banned secondhand clothing imports, neocolonial tensions thickened between the U.S. and international textile recycling companies, and Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi. (Further reading can be accessed under the textile organization’s name in the references section.) Since the genocide ended, The World Bank reported in an overview of Rwanda, it has been President Kagame’s goal to make Rwanda a middle-income country. In some ways, he’s succeeded: by refusing to import used clothing from the U.S. anymore, they’ve discovered alternative economic possibilities in South-South relations, although some conflict arises with non-aggressive, softer forms of imperialism with China. In a paper produced during foreign policy expert Yun Sun’s fellowship, Sun describes China’s development model, “which combines political authoritarianism and economic capitalism, to prove to some African countries that economic development and political stability can triumph over the need for a sound democratic system. In many countries, ‘China’s economic progress is cited by statists, protectionists, and thugs alike to ‘prove’ that keeping the state’s grip on companies, trade, and political freedoms need not stop a country growing by 8%-plus a year.’...A senior analyst at the People’s University, Ta Wenzhao, wrote publicly that the ‘China Model’ has substantial influence in Africa, which is an indispensable soft power for China to become a great power in the world.”

However, economic liberalization should not be President Kagame’s singular interest representative of development and growth. Human rights and sustainability goals should be secured just as intently, but sometimes are sacrificed for development. For instance, Kagame has a history of fierce silencing against political dissidence, as Ghanaian econoist George B. N. Ayittey recounts in an article for the Journal of Management and Sustainability. Although the country has begun to break total dependence on the Global North (as illustrated by journalist Nino Brown), the expansion of Chinese manufacturing in Rwanda threatens the development of the local textile industry. “The ban on used clothing also seems to have a totally different - unintended - effect as it pushes Rwandans to start buying cheap, imported new Chinese clothes,” writes BBC business reporter Andrea Dijkstra. This relationship with China may help break Rwanda’s neocolonial dependence on the U.S., but ultimately benefit Chinese economic development over Rwandan human rights interests. For instance, Sun writes that “Beijing would like to see non-Western, non-democratic governments grow and prosper in Africa, simply because they help validate China’s political system and mitigate its international isolation by showing that Western democracy is not a universal value, and that the Western democratic system doesn’t have to apply in every country. Therefore, any success of authoritarian governments in Africa, such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and the DRC are in and of themselves seen as constituting support for the legitimacy of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party].”

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Although states do not continue to seize colonial territories, the legacy of colonialism pervades transnational relations today through neo-colonialism. In “Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism,” Kwame Nkrumah, a revolutionary who led Ghana’s independence movement from Britain, describes the essence of neo-colonialism, in which a state subject to neo-colonialism “is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty” when “in reality its economic system and thus its political polity is directed from outside.” With their financial systems tightly bound, states are dependent on former imperial powers who have the capacity to elevate living standards, but have an economic object “to keep [living standards] depressed in the interest of the developed countries.” Law professor of Johannesburg, South Africa Tracy-Lynn Humby assesses how both Western and non-Western biases and soft forms of imperialism interfere with environmental and global legal treaty regimes for “trade, finance, and investment.” She cites Darien-Smith, who explains that “postcolonial theory provides the intellectual bridge linking historical and colonial injustices to contemporary global asymmetries...between the Global North and south.” The theory emerged out of the Global South as an intellectual movement in the 1970s as an act of resistance and effort to construct “more inclusive multicultural societies.” It explains how the Global South contains a myriad of “cultural perspectives and systems of meaning that do not correlate to a hierarchy dominated by Western values and scientific rationality.”

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In an article for Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, scholar J. Maggio interprets the subaltern in literary Gayatri Spivak’s seminal essay “Can the subaltern speak?” The essay begins to “[question] the notion of the colonial (and Western) subject” and suggest that the subaltern - a military term borrowed from Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci that means ‘of lower rank’ 1 - “can never speak, as they are both being ‘stood for’ and ‘embodied’ by others in the dominant discourse.” Sometimes used too broadly to represent ‘oppression’ or ‘otherness’ (thereby destroys the subjectivity of the subaltern”), the notion of the subaltern is not limited to a context subordinate to imperial power.

“The empirical reality of the oppressed other over there”, English scholar Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan describes, is also be valorized and fetishized. Therein lies Spivak’s critique of scholars like Michael Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, who assert that ‘the oppressed can know and speak for themselves’ and can not be represented by any theorizing intellectual—or, their fetishization of observation or experience over theory or pure logic of the oppressed other.

“Such knowers want their marginalized, hitherto silenced others to know themselves, to know what they want, and to desire in accordance with their interests,” Srinivasan writes.

1 Other definitions, according to Srinivasan, include “the working class, the peasant, the proletariat, the oppressed, the woman, the colonized, the silenced, the dominated, even the wretched of the earth.” Srinivasan cites Professor Pheng Cheah, who descibes the subaltern as “the name for a consciousness that exceeds and cannot be comprehended within the enclosure of disciplinary knowledge-production and intellectual activism because the traces of such a subject have been have been obliterated by epistemic violence of colonial subject making through the codification of indigenous law and education.”

Many historians are “interested in recovering the ‘voice-consciousness’ of the subaltern” and question the virtue of whether the subaltern is ‘allowed’ or ‘made’ to speak. Besides that, does speaking truth to power actually mean that those in power are willing or able to hear the truth? “The point,” she continues, “is that in neither case do we escape the discursive trap in which the subaltern not only does not have the agency to choose to speak, but also must speak in a way that is always already audible, legible, and recognizable to those who are passing her the proverbial microphone in the first place.” If the subaltern spoke, Srinivasan asks, would the truth set her free? Would the truth rewrite history?

18 Professor Garth Frazer of the University of Toronto has commented on Africa's economic future in textiles, emphasizing that "no country has ever achieved a sustainable per capita national income (at a level associated with a developing economy) without achieving a clothing manufacturing workforce that employs at least 1% of the population." However, this is where Africa's textile industry stands, in continuous decline: • • • • • •

Nigeria (most populated country in Africa): in the 1970s, over 200k were employed in the textile industry, almost obsolete today Ghana, 1975-2000: jobs in textiles decreased 80% Zambia: 30 years ago, textiles were produced locally, and now most people can only afford secondhand clothing Kenya (hosts some of the world's largest second hand markets): in the '80s, employed nearly half a million in the textile industry; today, that number has been reduced to 20k Democratic Republic of Congo (1990-'96) textiles production dropped 83% Rwanda: GDP per capita is $700, whereas the US GDP per capita is over

$62k, and the world average is $18k; Rwanda has raised tariffs on imported garments 12 times in an effort to build local markets and reduce used clothing imports

"NO COUNTRY HAS EVER ACHIEVED A SUSTAINABLE PER CAPITA NATIONAL INCOME (AT A LEVEL ASSOCIATED WITH A DEVELOPING ECONOMY) WITHOUT ACHIEVING A CLOTHING MANUFACTURING WORKFORCE THAT EMPLOYS AT LEAST 1% OF THE POPULATION."

What does Africa's economic future in textiles look like?

Since the ‘pre-consumerist America’ of the early 1900s, charities have popularly served as “[the U.S.’ de facto national textile recyclers.” The CEO of the textile recycling company USAgain reports that Americans buy five times the amount of clothing since 1980. Writer Audrey Magnuson cites SMART, the oldest recycling company in the world, which shares that in America, “the average consumer [purchases] about 68 garments per year, and then in return, they throw away an average of 80 lbs. of garments per year (about 20 pairs of jeans and 30 t-shirts). Between 1989 and 2003, American exports of used clothing more than tripled, amounting to over 7 billion pounds of used clothing a year.

During the devastation of COVID, textile recyclers’ warehouses were overflowing with used textiles. This level of inventory would usually precede an economic boom, but as it occurs during the pandemic, textile recyclers and exporters have been forced to cut prices and lay off workers, and they can not move merchandise. One popular argument represented in a petition by the Office of US Trade Representatives is that Rwanda's increased tariffs on imported textiles will cost the US 40k textile jobs and $124M in exports. However, there is not much to explain how this data was calculated, generating reasonable speculation. An article for the BBC cites Reuters, which explains that SMART did not publicly disclose the

Even as Kenya adapts to these new circumstances that can prove beneficial to the development of their textile industry, it is still critical to recognize how the global pandemic has highlighted unsustainable systems of manufacturing. This includes the continuation of exploitative economic partnerships through neo-colonialism (such as hazardous facility placement) and

Local industries are unable to compete with the influx of cheap, used clothing.

Beth Porter of Green America, a nonprofit organization that promotes “environmentally aware, ethical consumerism”, estimates that "the cost of a secondhand garment is as low as 5% the cost of a new garment made in Kenya, meaning local industries are unable to compete with the influx of cheap, used clothing.” The US has powerful leverage over these African countries, contributing to their place as the largest market for secondhand clothing globally and for several decades.

Powerful trade lobby groups representing textile recycling companies have been very vocal in the US' defense, especially "Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles" (SMART), an international trade association made up of 40 for-profit used clothing exporters. While many Americans would believe that their donations are charitable contributions that also promote sustainability, for-profit recycling companies play a significant role in the “big business” of intercepting waste.

data used to calculate losses because it carried “proprietary information.”

African countries have resisted, protesting that the COVID crisis presents a health threat to their people. The pandemic has created an opportunity for local markets, which are rising to the occasion in the import reprieve.

Rwanda intends to phase out all used clothing imports but has also seen more flexibility than other African countries, as its industry is not as dependent as countries like Kenya, which relies on an average of $600M a year from the U.S. (Rwanda relies on a fraction of this per year, $43M, and maintains comparative flexibility.) This measure has the potential to help revive Kenya’s textile industry, “which was wiped out in the late 1980s as the country started opening its markets to foreign competition,” according to Abdi Latif Dahir for The New York Times. While their import ban made conditions more favorable, Kenya has also been wary of incentivizing local manufacturers.

With fewer orders from importers, Kenya has worked to produce clothing for the local market instead.

Rwanda intends to phase out all used clothing imports...

19 It costs the U.S. $45 per ton to dispose of textiles, which are shipped to countries in Africa such as Ghana, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Tanzania, and Rwanda, where they are sold for a profit at a recycling plant. Sustainable apparel consultant and columnist Shannon Whitehead explains that “one bale costs around the same amount as feeding a family of five for a month in a country such as Cameroon” - but this does not necessarily mean the recyclers are held to any standards in maintaining the plants. “In fact,” she shares, “there is no auditing system or accountability control should an entirely damaged bale show up in Africa.” This could lead to bankruptcy for a seller relying on profit to buy the next bale.

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One such remnant of colonialism can be found through supply chain mapping software; namely, “Sourcemap has traced supply chains for most major clothing and apparel manufacturers,” Celine Semaan writes in an article for The Cut on sustainability and colonialism, “and the data mapping it provides show that world trade routes are mostly the same as they were 150 years ago at the height of European colonial exploitation. In the same way that colonized nations provided cheap sugar, chocolate, coffee, and fruit to the West, “developing nations now provide cheap semi-disposable clothes to the West and global economic upper classes.” This import-export business has long-defined the relationship between the Global North and South. In “The Problem of ‘trickle-down’ science from the Global North to the Global South,” Daniel D. Reidpath and Pascale Allotey assess two ends of a spectrum: wealth redistribution and trickle down economies (in which wealth is supposed ‘trickle down’ into lower-income brackets to create opportunity). Reidpath and Allotey describe Northern theory, which does not function as a ‘conversation,’ but a “one-way soliloquy from the Global North that gets imported colonial style to the Global South.” Northern theory “dictates that intellect, resources, and opportunities should be concentrated in the Global North,” ultimately inapplicable and ‘non serviceable’ to local contexts. In areas of medicine and aid, this usually translates to three different outcomes. When a “portion of the preciously limited pool of trained workers'' is sent to the North (where chances of financial success and research opportunities are higher), 70% of the time, that relocation is a permanent move.

One can either service the priorities of the Global North - which typically promises greater funding - or can research the priorities of the Global South while located in the Global North and have greater difficulty making a substantial impact, especially since research is to provide “intellectual benefit” to the North. Or that person can return to the Global South, more likely to be met with frustration by the limitation of resources and non-Western institutional platforms. This pool of trained health workers is then diverted from directly serving the “majority of the world’s poor,” where disease is concentrated, and people have disproportionately low access to quality education systems and social advantages.

In their research, Reidpath and Allotey present several examples of global collaborations situated in the Global South. In Malaysia, a group of European and Malaysian scientists met to determine the cause of death in an area where autopsies are not commonly performed due to cultural reasons. In this cultural misalignment, the North could not apply its own “technological and intellectual developments.” “In the absence of cadaveric samples,” one Northern pathologist asserted that “there was no interesting science to be done.” In another example, the US requested biosamples from an outpost scientist in Indonesia. She got her PhD in molecular genetics from an Ivy League university before returning to her country, where she was able to participate in US-discussions in her field, but was “untrained to conduct science suitable to her setting...unable to initiate or develop the science herself.” In a third example, the writers discuss a letter they wrote to a graduate student based in the Global North, whose paper was published in an international peer-reviewed journal on the Malaysian stroke registry”, but contained “significant scientific problems.”

The Editor responded:

I do not want disucssion [sic] about the quality of stroke registry in your country. No readers in this journal other than your country are interested [sic] in such discussion (Personal Communication, 2015).

Relaying these instances of failed collaboration, the writers also recognize the successes of global collaborations situated in the Global South. In a global collaboration based in the Philippines during the 1960s, the International Rice Research Institute developed semidwarf varieties of rice, which saved South Asia from famine; by 2005, 60% of rice cultivation used rice varieties from that development.

"World trade routes are mostly the same as they were 150 years ago at the height of European colonial exploitation."

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Without representation in research communities, developing countries become the object of research and not participants in it.

In 1968, the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh demonstrated “the effectiveness of low technology” through oral rehydration by way of a glucose and electrolyte derived solution, which would “lead to the global standard management of fluid replacement in diarrhea and the prevention of 54 million deaths.” These instances exhibit the importance of research that validates and seeks to illuminate Global South research in its context. However, journalist Jan Piotrowski emphasizes that “fewer than 15 percent of papers in the ten surveyed journals were at least partly written by authors based in developing nations, while some editorial boards consisted entirely of Northern representatives, according to a study presented at the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes in Bonn, Germany” in June 2014. In the course of research for this paper, it was difficult to find studies situated in the Global South; most transboundary-textile-waste-oriented research in African countries was in progress and unpublished. However, the import-export business relationship between the Global North and Global South are just as applicable in this context.

Sarah Cummings, a Netherlands-based information and knowledge development consultant quoted by Piotrowski, states that “Without representation in research communities, developing countries become the object of research and not participants in it.” Local case studies to understand that biosphere consciousness must first recognize the local context and needs, not project one-size-fits-all solutions.

The United States has not always been a site of unbridled capitalist materialism - although not for sustainability-oriented reasons. Rather, wartime scarcity led to an entirely functional spirit of conservation during World War 1. Hand-me-downs, in-home recycling (of rags and quilts, for instance), repairs, and tailoring were common among the US population. On the production end, research scientist Luz Claudio adds, fewer sizes and colors of textiles were manufactured, and designers were encouraged to use less fabric and fewer embellishments on clothing.

A popular government slogan for the time advised the population to “Make economy fashionable lest it become obligatory,” a phrase that led to a 10% reduction in trash produced.

However, with the growth of industrialism during the mid-1920s, consumerism was back in style. According to The American Project, a publication run by a 501(c)3 non-profit of the same name, “America’s response to WW2 was the most extraordinary mobilization of an idle economy in the history of the world. During the war 17 million new civilian jobs were created, industrial productivity increased by 96%, and corporate profits after taxes were doubled.” Increased employment (and thereby production) raised the consumption of household goods and clothing 10-15%.

According to Elizabeth Emery, a lecturer of Textiles and Art History at The University of South Australia, in an interview for i-D, “The biggest thing that happened post World War 2 is textiles and craft went from being a necessity - you had to make everything for your home - to being a choice.” Claudio explains that “economic growth came to depend on continued marketing of new products and disposal of old ones that are thrown away simply because stylistic norms promote their obsolescence.” In Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash, Susan Strasser describes how “industrialization brought consumerism with it as an integral part of the economy.” Within the fast fashion industry, there are 52 micro-seasons each year that hike up production to release mass collections that are soon discounted for mass purchase, at the sacrifice of quality and sustainability. In an article for NPR, Zhai Yun Tan cites the EPA’s report that “15.1 million tons of textile waste was generated in 2013, of which 12.8 million tons were discarded.” “It used to be four seasons [of fashion cycles] in a year; now it may be up to 11 or 15 or more,” Tasha Lewis, a professor at Cornell University’s Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design explains in an interview with Yun Tan. Lewis states that “the rate of disposal is not keeping up with the availability of places to put everything that we’re getting rid of and that’s the problem.”

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One could argue that the high production and purchase of goods facilitated by neoliberal capitalism is sustainable perhaps not to the environment, but to the corporations and state themselves. However, citing a report by The Pulse of the Fashion Industry, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation reveals that “if the fashion industry were to address the environmental and social fallout of the current status quo,” the overall world economy would save $192 billion. If the fashion industry continues in the way it is going, by 2030, fashion brands will see “a decline in earnings before interest and tax;” margins will drop over three percentage points, thereby reducing profits by $52 billion.

As of 2017, only about a fifth of clothing accepted by donation shops like Goodwill and the Salvation Army is sold in-store - charities sell the rest to textile recyclers at 5-7 cents per pound. Reporter Adam Daly writes that in 2020, “The Charity Regulator received 431 reports from the public about unregistered charity groups operating house-tohouse collections."

02 These for-profit recycling companies pretend to be charities, violating section 46(2) of the Charities Act 2009. Many of these charities are also left on private property; however, given that many do not provide contact information (and if they do, non-functional numbers), they can be very difficult to remove. Actual charity collection sites, boxes, and advertisements should share the charity’s name, logo, charity number (RCN), and contact details.

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LEGAL RESISTANCE

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IF THE FASHION INDUSTRY WERE TO ADDRESS THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL FALLOUT OF THE CURRENT STATUS QUO, THE OVERALL WORLD ECONOMY WOULD SAVE $192 BILLION.

drop over three percentage points, thereby reducing profits by $52 billion.

In an article for United Nations Africa Renewal, Franck Kuwonu recounts that in 2016, the EAC intended to fully ban imported clothing by 2019 under pressure by local industrialists and the assertion that the low cost of used clothing was holding back development. In response, the Trump administration then threatened to rescind the EAC agreement. BBC News reports that SMART claimed that the EAC’s decision to phase out clothing would impose ‘significant economic hardship’ on America’s used clothing industry. The EAC disputes these premises. In 2017, when these countries in the EAC tried to raise tariffs, the US Trade Representative threatened to remove Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The Office of the US Trade Representative illustrates the terms of AGOA, remarking that its new market opportunities have “helped bolster economic growth, promoted economic and political reform, and improved U.S. economic relations in the region.” It would also, of course, give the US access to small but promising markets, as Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura describes in The New York Times. As stated in the act, the US has the right to demand the elimination of trade and investment barriers - here, that aim apparently overrides the broader goals “to use trade to support development [and] economic growth.” The principal adviser on Africa to former president Obama - Grant T Harris - suggests that “the best way forward was for the administration to negotiate with Rwanda,” not use AGOA as a ‘cudgel’ to remove four of the six African countries included in the act. East African markets don’t wish to escape the benefits of a potential economic relationship with a major world player like the US - they need to be protected and nurtured like those infant manufacturing industries in Asia to better compete in a global market.

Kenya struggled with the commitment to phase out used textiles, unable to meet the local demand for clothing with the state of its current industry. Just a few decades prior, Kenya’s local clothing sector employed half a million garment workers; today, only tens of thousands hold a job. Where it once aimed to confront the competi-

tion, the promise of strong domestic production also wavered. In June 2017, the US reviewed the AGOA eligibility of Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda: the countries could comply or lose the deal. Unable to meet local demand and recently “christened a middle-income [economy],” as noted by staff writers at FurtherAfrica, Kenya agreed to continue accepting used clothing imports. Tanzania (also a recent middle-income economy) and Uganda followed suit, after an initial commitment to join Rwanda in raising taxes.

In their first act of resistance through increased tariffs in 2016, in an effort to phase out all used clothing imports, minimize health risks, and support locally made products and industries, Rwanda increased tariffs on imported clothing, from 20 cents to $2.50 per kilogram. In 2017, the tariff jumped to $4, and up to $5 in 2018. They also raised the environment levy 5%, from 15% to 20%. After the initial strife with the US, Rwanda was not alone in this continued act of resistance: The Kenya Bureau of Standards released the following public notice, asserting that their refusal of used clothing was a public health response to the threat of COVID. In April 28, 2020, SMART responded: “We believe Kenya’s recent ban is a disingenuous attempt to stop secondhand clothing trade masquerading as a measure to protect its citizens...a decision made under the false pretenses that the virus can be transferred through used footwear and textiles. Kenya’s industry still was not at a level to meet the local clothing demand; although it exported about $380M of clothing globally in 2015, the country was afraid of losing its lucrative textile exports to the US and its clothing is too expensive to sell locally. The refusal to lift the used clothing ban is no easy task for Rwanda either; a landlocked state, it has few natural resources to extract and export. Local manufacturing is vital to development, a goal President Kagame is keen to pursue. However, there are questions as to whether there’s a market for ‘Made in Rwanda’ clothing - is the size and purchasing power of the local consumer market enough?

In Kenya, used clothing is also called the "clothes of dead white people'' and in Mozambique, "the clothing of calamity." Health risks of used clothing include skin candidiasis, scabies, ringworm, and body lice, to name a few. Between 2015 and 2018, the reuse stream declined 10-15% and now African markets are demanding better quality. Here is one stand-out anecdote collected from NPR coverage on "The Afterlife of American Clothes" which shares an experience in the Gikomba Market in Central Nairobi, in Western Kenya: One recent day [Francis Mungai] bought an extra-large Motorhead shirt and, in a few minutes, turned it into a slim, custom shirt with a blue collar and canary-yellow sleeves.

The Motorhead shirt was imported to Kenya for 15 cents. It was resold and sold again for 45 cents. Then someone got 12 cents to cut it up, 18 cents to tailor it and 14 cents to wash and iron the shirt. Then a vendor bought it for $1.20, with plans to sell it for $2 to $3.

Garth Frazer of the University of Toronto emphasizes that "no country has ever achieved a sustainable per capita national income (at a level associated with a developing economy) without achieving a clothing manufacturing workforce that employs at least 1% of the population.” An economic future in textiles will play a role in Africa’s ability to meet its development goals, at least in the financially-driven eyes of institutions like the World Bank, whose main indications of a middle-income countries’ economy include gross national income. Because they rely the least on used clothing imports relative to the other AGOA countries, Rwanda’s resistance and economic determination carve out a chance to prosper and lead development.

Between the start of the Made-in-Rwanda campaign in 2015 and 2017, imports decreased 4%, from $1.849 billion to $1.771 billion, according to a 2018 report by the Ministry of Trade and Industry cited by Julius Bizimungu. At the same time, the country’s total exports increased 69%, from $559 million to $944 million. Central bank statistics show that imports still overwhelm the dollar amount exported, leading to a trade deficit of $1,017.32 in September of 2018, although, since 2015, the national trade deficit has decreased by 36%. Although they do not benefit from duty-free trade of clothing with the US, their exemption from AGOA has not rendered Rwanda without options: As an official from one Rwanda company, C&H Garments, told The New York Times, “we are exploring other markets. We have contracts with European companies and are not affected by AGOA at all.” In fact, the tariff on second-hand clothing allowed Rwanda’s textile and garment sector to grow 20% in its first year, a trend that positively correlated with job growth, moving the region in a positive

direction. According to editor Nina Gbor, in 2015, Rwanda imported $151 million of used clothing, but a report by McKinsey predicts that in 10 years, East Africa could export $3 billion worth of finished garments. “If coupled with investment in social services like healthcare and education,” Gbor writes, “an opportunity like this could help the region lift itself out of poverty and dependence.”

As discussed by C&H markets, Rwanda continues to pursue alternate markets to US trade. In two years’ time, reports the Fibre2Fashion News Desk, Rwanda’s garment-textile exports grew by 83%. Rwanda exported $5.9 million in textiles and garments, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Through South-South interactions and trade policies, Rwanda might also be able to work collaboratively with other African countries as they develop their textile manufacturing sector.

"One recent day [Francis Mungai] bought an extra-large Motorhead shirt and, in a few minutes, turned it into a slim, custom shirt with a blue collar and canary-yellow sleeves.

The Motorhead shirt was imported to Kenya for 15 cents. It was resold and sold again for 45 cents. Then someone got 12 cents to cut it up, 18 cents to tailor it and 14 cents to wash and iron the shirt. Then a vendor bought it for $1.20, with plans to sell it for $2 to $3."

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From pre-production harvesting and manufacturing of fibers, to the production of textiles and even past consumer use, clothing negatively impacts the environment and human health. Waste pickers in landfills and farmers work in poor conditions, greenhouse gas emissions inflict long-term effects, and synthetic fibers hamper water absorption into the soil, contributing to stagnant pools and often spreading malaria. When organic fibers and yarn decompose, they produce ammonia and methane; researcher Kehinde Ajila explains that these large amounts of ammonia are “highly harmful and [become] more deadly” as a gas “to life and the general environment.” Cotton production covers 2.5% of the world’s arable land but accounts for 16% of all pesticides used. In India, half of all pesticides used go toward cotton production, which harms farmers.

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In Indonesia, over 200 textile factories are stationed alongside The Citarum River, which is polluted by dyes and chemicals that color the water a range of colors, yellow to black. It is often referred to as ‘the world’s dirtiest river.’ In terms of ‘wearer impact’, even finished textiles also can color and pollute water when washed; over time, these toxic substances build up in the human body with exposure to polluted water and food sources. Non-iron garments are one example of heavily-chemical induced clothing, as it contains formaldehyde, a carcinogenic to humans. It can also cause allergic contact dermatitis, a delayed allergic reaction that irritates the skin. Other added finishes like water and stain repellents have hormone-disrupting properties that can impact reproductive and immune systems. Washing plastic-based textiles (like polyester, nylon, and acrylic) also releases trillions of plastic microfibers that trail into the ocean. Used to soften plastics, plasticisers are commonly used to screenprint, but can be very harmful to hormonal systems and reproductive health. Because the harmful chemicals are not ‘chemically bound,’ they leak out when worn or washed. The European Union bans certain phthalates (a type of plasticiser), but many companies get around this regulation by producing substances with slightly different chemical structures, but similar properties.

Each year, about 500,000 tons of plastic microfibers wash into the environment, about the amount of plastic particles of 50 billion plastic bottles. However, plastics are not the only pollutant to pollute and accumulate in the environment - over eight thousand chemicals are used from the creation of raw materials to the production of the textile itself. These chemicals cause allergic reactions, respiratory diseases, increase cases of cancer, and kill aquatic life. When textiles degrade in landfills, they release approximately 2,000 tons of hazardous colorants in the European Union alone each year.

Unfortunately, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “there is little data or transparency about which chemicals used cause cancer or their full impact on human health and the environment during the production, use, and after-use phases.” For instance, ‘antimony trioxide’, a catalyst used in the production of polyester (the most widely used manufactured fiber), is thought to cause cancer in humans if inhaled, but no conclusive research exists.

In terms of health threats, polyester releases emissions, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases, which can cause and worsen respiratory disease. Large quantities of crude oil sustain its highly energy-intensive production. Volatile monomers, solvents and by-products of polyester are released into waste water by manufacturing plants. Chromium in the water affects the liver directly, causing a disease called “jaundice,” which causes digestive problems and liver cancer without proper precautions.

CK A L

OF FULL TR

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A QUESTION OF SUSTAINABILITY

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Used to dissolve solutions like dye pigments and produce cellulose-based fibers, solvents can be hazardous to inhale or touch. The viscose process uses the solvent carbon disulfide, which can cause severe health conditions. However, many brands advertise viscose as a sustainable material. For instance, the ‘direct-to-consumer’ women’s clothing brand Paloma Wool, which Vogue calls ‘an Instagram sensation’, makes many of its garments out of viscose-mix clothing. The brand advertises viscose as a biodegradable material and “type of rayon fiber that is made from natural sources such as wood and agricultural products that are regenerated as cellulose fiber.”

Perhaps the company manufacturers clothing ethically using local suppliers, but the misleading description of viscose alongside their commitment to sustainable fibers leads one to question the integrity of so-called transparency promises.

In an article for the Journal of Cleaner Production, the viscose process is noted for its “intensive use of hazardous chemicals which leads to water pollution and ecotoxicity.” Water Footprint Network, the non-profit, multi-stakeholder collaboration that advocates for “fair and smart use of the world’s fresh water,” published a report in 2017 on viscose fiber production and sustainability issues. In their report, “it is estimated that currently 120 million trees are cut down every year for viscose production, some of which are from endangered and ancient forests such as forests in Indonesia, Canada's boreal and temperate rainforests and the Amazon.” While “the main viscose fibres producers are already engaged in initiatives toward sustainable wood sourcing” and it is possible to reduce negative impacts in viscose production, “there is also a lack of full transparency to the public in auditing processes.”

In Nigeria, citizens often dump waste directly to the land (51% dump directly into water trenches), “alongside highways in the fringes” where it collects for months, and conduct open air burning, which “emits high [magnitudes] of organic substances such as dioxins, heavy metals, acidic gases and dust particles.”

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In “Household Waste Disposal Laws in the Federal Republic in Nigeria,” Omenka Helen Uchendu describes the magnitude of this (public health and environmental health law) issue in Nigeria, as well as attempted policy interventions. Only 20-30% of 32 million tons of solid waste is collected in Nigeria each year. From rural area to large cities and state capitals, “there are piles of [trash], heaps and hills of it, beside huts, beside corrugated tin stalls, beside apartment flats, and behind houses....Trash is ubiquitous to the landscape - so common is it that after a while the plastic bags, paper wrappers, bottle caps and scraps merge with the palm trees, guava trees, the pawpaw, plantain, and udara trees.”

In Nigeria, The Federal Environmental Agency Act of 1988 (FEPA ACT) heavily cracks down on pollution and violations of environmental regulation (of individuals, firms, and corporations) by way of convictions to fines or imprisonment up to 5 years - 10 years if hazardous substances are discharged. Connections to the sale of hazardous waste is punishable by a life sentence. Through FEPA, states and local governments are tasked with solid waste management, but this has not affected waste issues, which continue to rise each year. Because the government has failed, the sector has become privatized - and without government regulation, profit driven companies have failed as well. The government banned the use, production, and importation of plastic bags, but to no substantial effect on the overall environmental issue. Some state governments created waste management systems, integrating youth employment and able-bodied people to clear weeds and clean the streets of waste, but this had “no significant impact.”

In Nigeria, citizens often dump waste directly to the land (51% dump directly into water trenches), “alongside highways in the fringes” where it collects for months, and conduct open air burning, which “emits high [magnitudes] of organic substances such as dioxins, heavy metals, acidic gases and dust particles.” 67% of Nigerians reported that most solid waste textiles explode in the fire and 43% said fumes irritated their eyes. Ajila cites a journal publication by Toochukwu Chibueze Ogwueleka on “Municipal solid waste characteristics and management in Nigeria,” which assesses the low effectiveness of management attempts, and suggests that “citizens lack training on waste disposal.” In her own study, Agila found that “while 91% (8001) of the studied households strongly preferred imported textile goods from developed [nations] because of durability of such goods, 73% (642 individuals) often opt for imported fairly used materials.” Even compared to new textiles available, used imported goods are more affordable. A study on the emissions in Nigeria attributed the country’s status as one of the greatest producers of waste to the “high importation of fairly used materials, mainly from developed countries.”

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In Nigeria, 69% of respondents to Ajila’s study stated they “were aware of high [levels] of global warming in Nigeria, but 58% disagreed that global warming can be induced by post-consumer textile waste management.”

Sixty-two percent disagreed that poor textile waste management [influences the] rate of health deterioration.” Synthetics are far more common than natural fibers (even in indigenous textiles), use more toxic chemicals, and are harder to recycle. But they’re easier and less expensive to produce in mass quantities. Coupled with low awareness of the severity of post-consumer waste disposal, many citizens are not equipped with the knowledge and training to effectively manage waste. Ajila calls for the local government and private investors to enact waste management programs informed by local research and citizen input encouraged by community based organizations in Nigeria.

y-based

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Driven by an emphasis on community partnership, community-based participatory research (CBPR) (as defined in the journal Advances in Nursing Science) “provides an alternative to traditional research approaches that assume a phenomenon may be separate from its context for purposes of study.” In this area of research, context is critical.

Holkup et al. demonstrate the strengths and advantages of CBPR, which “allows for the innovative adaptation of existing resources; explores local knowledge and perceptions; empowers people by considering them agents who can investigate their own situations; the community input makes the project credible, enhancing its future usefulness by aligning it with what the community perceives as social and health goals; joins research participants who have varied skills, knowledge and expertise to address complex problems in complex situations; provides resources for the involved communities; through its collaborative nature, provides a forum that can bridge across cultural differences among the participants; and helps dismantle the lack of trust communities may exhibit in relation to research.”

The data collected in Nigeria concerning the toxicity and pervasive impacts of textile waste suggests not only a possible lack of education surrounding only sustainable waste disposal methods, but a gap in health literacy as well.

Of course, the study from Nigeria does not reflect the Rwandan perspective. However, CBPR could be useful in not only measuring local perspectives, but improving environmental and public health outcomes with the innovative adaptation of existing resources and knowledge, as illustrated by Holkup et al.

h

The section “Future Directions” further elaborates on potential methods of data collection in CBPR to effectively direct policy change.

In Nigeria, 69% of respondents to Ajila’s study stated they “were aware of high [levels] of global warming in Nigeria, but 58% disagreed that global warming can be induced by post-consumer textile waste management.”

WHERE IS "WHO"?

Within the global community, The United Nations Council for African Renewal is privy to the textile trade disputes between the EAC and United States, as indicated by their article titled “Protectionist ban on imported used clothing,” in which Franck Kuwonu illustrates how “Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda are raising taxes on secondhand clothes imports and at the same time offering incentives to local manufacturers.” This trade dispute is in direct protest of a linear manufacturing system, where waste is considered negative economic value.

In 2018, The World Health Organization (WHO) - an agency of the United Nations - published a report titled “Circular Economy and Health.” WHO stated intentions to “address this deficiency [of a linear economy] by framing the transition [into a circular economy] in a health context, to set the scene for further policy development.” However, in addressing textile waste in a circular economy, WHO only advocates for textile reuse (especially in “humanitarian aid”) to maintain “the highest value of materials and products” and reduce health risks from “cold or other harmful exposures.” To the extent of health threats of textiles in the document, WHO features the social enterprise ‘Circle Economy,’ which develops “practical solutions, international communication and engagement.” However, WHO notes that this source provides “no specific health focus but [does include the] health implications in case study on textiles.”

While WHO has considered safe management of waste produced by health-care activities, global electronic waste, and hazardous microplastics, in my research I could not locate any studies or reports on the human and environmental threats of transboundary textile waste by WHO. A search of “textiles” on WHO’s website renders three results dating back as early as 2018: this includes the function of nets in preventing malaria, the presence of arsenic in groundwater (in which “textiles” are mentioned once in list form as a contributor of arsenic in the industrial process of hide tanning), and the general need to regulate microplastic pollution of textile synthetics (of which there was no mention of trade and imports nor transboundary textile waste). A 1972 report titled “THE WORK OF WHO” published under the “Official Records of the World Health Organization” mentions textiles once, naming worker exposure to asbestos textile manufacturing (“where the spinning process produces a great deal of fine dust”) as “the greatest risk from asbestos.”

WHO does prescribe levels for which exposure to toxic elements like metals in soil and groundwater, microbiological agents in drinking water, or toxic fertilizers in agriculture, are safe. This can certainly help provide a basis for determining hazardous environmental presences in health crises and international disputes.

However, WHO has not necessarily investigated or reported on the hazards of transboundary textile waste.

WHO claims to publish “practical manuals, handbooks and training material for specific categories of health workers; internationally applicable guidelines and standards; reviews and analyses of health policies, programs and research; and state-of-the-art consensus reports that offer technical advice and recommendations for decision-makers” in order to address “disease prevention and control, the development of equitable health systems based on primary health care, and health promotion for individuals and communities.” But if “progress towards better health for all also demands the global dissemination and exchange of information that draws on the knowledge of all WHO Member countries” and “world leaders in public health and the biomedical sciences,” where is WHO in the conversation surrounding the toxicity and pervasiveness of transboundary textile waste?

Countering policy analysis and assumptions of the Global North, African women have expressed their grievances through textiles. This act of resistance employs the use of textiles themselves as forms of protest, education, memory-making, and radical self-determination. While I was unable to recover textiles that spoke directly to the protest of policy disputes surrounding the detriment of public and environmental health by transboundary textile waste, this may be attributed to the aforementioned gap in health literacy and lack of intervention and investment in public health by parties like the United Nations, and its agency responsible for international public health, WHO. As African textile industries struggle to develop a local market, African women are active participants in recording and archiving their individual and communal histories and experiences through the textile medium The next section explores this capacity, where textiles serve to educate, document history from below, and expand representations of health crises in the Global South.

TEXTILES AS MEMORY, TEXTILES AS PROTEST Even before it was considered a “status symbol,” cultures in the Middle East, North Africa, Africa, and Asia have practiced sustainability. This culture of craftsmanship is represented today in the embroidery projects of Rwandan women. In the mountainous region of Musanze in northern Rwanda, over 100 women have learned to make “hand-knit apparel out of merino sheep and angora rabbit wool,” as reported by CNN. Although Rwanda does not produce wool (the sheep in the mountains are not domesticated and their fur is too coarse), the country hires local farmers to look after and shear merino sheep imported from Kenya, whose fur is then used to create yarn at Handspun Hope. While the non-profit governmental organization does not have a market for their goods quite yet, smaller, local enterprises have the opportunity to create clothing through the “Made in Rwanda” campaign. The textile sector finally has space to develop, and the women who work at Handspun Hope are able to earn a steady income - in addition, many of the women opened their own bank accounts since working for the NGO, which is significant given that “although Rwanda has one of the highest rates of female labor force in the world, only 24% of the women have accounts with commercial banks.”

In 1997, shortly after the Rwandan genocide, a woman named Christiane Rwagatare returned home from Europe, devastated by the state of her village. She decided to establish Savane Rutungo-Kabuye, a workshop that WePresent shares started as “a distraction, a source of income and a creative avenue to those who had been affected.” Over 100 women arrived at the first workshop, too many for Rwagatare to host at the local church. While she was only able to work with 15, the women created a vibrant collection of work, sewing over sketches on canvas, drawing “whatever comes to mind,” from culture, the environment, and things from daily life to “images buried in their memories.” One day, a tourist - an American educator named Juliana Meehan - visited the collective and purchased all but one of the textiles; after learning of Rwagatare’s ambitions to show the textiles in the US, Meechan worked to help her reach this goal, which was presented as PAX Rwanda in the states, which translates to Rwandan Peace.” Julia has often noticed that many Western people think of Rwanda and only see the geonocide and the problems the country has faced since,” artist profile site WePresent recounts. “These embroideries, though, show the everyday intricacies of the country from the perspective of those who have called it home their whole lives.”

Their work carries an etymological meaning, or what lecturer Elizabeth Emery explains “means power, it means doing, it means making.” In telling their stories, these women exhibit agency.

In order to improve the living conditions of those living in Winterveld, where “thousands of black families were evicted from suburbs identified for white settlement” during the 50s and 60s, Soroptimists International was formed by a professional women’s organization and supported by staff at the University of South Africa, including the active participation of Karen Skawran. With the sale of Mapula, there were two core possibilities: sale of Mapula as “industrious” products of labor (to public and corporate collections, tourists, shops, and open markets) or as traditional art for art galleries, museum exhibitions, and prestigious public and corporate collections, the inspired work of creativity. While collection pieces could still sell for higher prices, mapula for tourists who had likely done far less research would need to be more affordable and readily available. Alternately, art dealers would want the best mapula available. One may initially see a conflict in pursuing both possibilities, but van der Merwe was able to accomplish both. Marketing strategies after the genocide found oppportunity on an international scale, including permanent holdings at three art museums and purchases by local corporations (including oil companies, banks, ambassador receptions, and government events) at the turn of the century.

"These embroideries show the everyday intricacies of the country from the perspective of those who have called it home their whole lives.”

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Before 1993, cushion covers commonly featured flowers and animals. During the period of democratic elections, cushion covers came to reflect contemporary events and nationhood - many cloths even featured South African leaders (including South African leaders, like Nelson Mandela) and the new South African flag. Larger clothes became available in 1999, allowing the women to embroider larger cloths in greater detail. One such cloth by Rossinah Maepa modeled its embroidery on a poster educating citizens how to vote in the 1999 election.

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Other mapula referenced grassroots educational campaigns, offered local advertising, and soon coverage of international events that involved or impacted South Africans, including coverage of South African support in 2000 when Mozambique flooded. As South Africans demonstrated pride through their embroidery, they also seemed to align with the “African Renaissance” South African president Thabo Mbeki “first articulated in 1996 - one underpinned by a concept of South Africa as leading an economic and cultural regeneration of the continent through the celebration of indigenous traditions in all their diversity.” Women who recently gained the right to vote often celebrated difference, multiculturalism, and reconciliation through mapula, making them very attractive to local government agencies. The Artvark Gallery in Kalk Bay in Cape Town, South Africa shares that “mapula textiles have become highly collectible and have been exhibited in Greece, Germany and England and have won many awards...HRH Queen Elizabeth was presented with a Mapula cloth during her visit to South Africa in 1999,” Mbeki’s wife “purchased 65 Mapula cloths as gifts for the spouses of the Visiting Heads of States during the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002,” and “President Obama was presented with a beautiful Mapula tapestry at the White House in 2010” (2013). Since the mid-90s, mapula by black South African women have contributed to a growth in tourism, public interest, and corporate and private investor interest.

CONFLICT TEXTILES

Even before Mapula, women created ‘Conflict Textiles’ which would become part of a series of textiles “portraying conflict in diverse situations'' from around the world for collection into a digital archive. One such textile curated by Roberta Bacic is from 1998, titled “Memory Cloth,” hand embroidered calico and inscriptions completed in remembrance of loved ones following the genocide. It was made by ex-residents of District 6 in Cape Town, South Africa. On April 27, 1950, the apartheid government of South Africa legalized racial segregation, thereby displacing 60,000 Africans from “their homes, rich social networks and community infrastructure."

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TEXTILES AS MEMORY, TEXTILES AS PROTEST The next textile, “Economic Situation of Zimbabwe,” illustrates the 2016 drought that brought on a state of emergency, making banks inaccessible. By 2020, with El-Nino, Cyclone Idai, and the COVID pandemic, conditions worsened. “With inflation running at 500% in February 2020, an unemployment rate of 90 percent, [and] soaring food prices,” the archive explains, “it is feared that the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 will impact most severely on those already living a hand to mouth existence.”

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In a textile called “The day we will never forget” (2012), a group of young girls from Killarney, an informal settlement in Zimbabwe, recount and denounce the total destruction of their homes in 2005, when the government sent the army and police to intentionally destroy housing around the country. Considered a crime against humanity, in “Operation Murambatsvina” (which translates to ‘get rid of the filth’) over 500,000 people were evicted and many were killed. While the International Organization for Migration and the Bulawayo City Council aided those displaced with housing, unemployment rates are still outstanding.

Created by Shari Eppel, the next textile titled “For Paul, Disappeared 8 February 2012” recalls the Mugabe era in Zimbabwe, a period of “decades [characterized by] human rights violations, ...mass killings, forced disappearances, and brutal suppression of dissent.” Over 20,000 people were killed during this era. Paul, Eppel’s friend and colleague of 18 years, was “a stalwart defender of human rights” for over 30 years.

He went missing in 2012 - no one knows what happened to Paul.

The textile is a grave Eppel made for Paul. “With soft layers of cloth,” the archive illustrates, “[Eppel] creates his grave, she shrouds his bones with foliage, she cocoons him in the brown earth, at rest.”

ART AS PROTEST

More recently, in 2010, the Hamburg Women’s Co-operative based in the Eastern Cape of South Africa created The Keiskamma Guernica, a “commemorative embroidery” based on Pablo Picasso’s Guernica lamenting and protesting the tragedy of the Spanish Nationalist Government, which instructed German warplanes to bomb a Spanish village. While it is the same size at approximately 8.2x25.5 feet and borrows a similar color palette, The Keiskamma Guernica “relates the panic, sorrow and despair of individuals and families'' who have lost loved ones to “the slow destruction of a community of HIV/AIDS, according to the Textile Research Centre (TRC). Over a third of the world’s HIV cases are in South Africa, where 1 in 2 people are infested and approximately “52% of all women aged 15 or older living with HIV are in southern Africa,” as described in an article for the journal AIDS Patient Care STDS. While locally produced medicines are easier to access, journalist Tefo Pheage adds that “Mandela accused the companies of exploiting the developing world by charging exorbitant fees for HIV/AIDS drugs.” In 2001, “when South Africa tried to import cheap, generic HIV/AIDS drugs...39 international pharmaceutical companies dragged the South African government to court to challenge its plans'', eventually backing down due to pressure by advocates of international pharmaceutical companies. From Keiskamma’s local treatment center, the TRC reports, the cooperative sourced grey fabric for The Keiskamma Guernica from former patients’ blankets, traditional skirts, and locally made felt.

When it was first exhibited at the National Arts Festival, The Keiskamma Guernica was part of an installation, featured alongside pots made by the Keiskamma Art Projects’ ceramic studio in memory of lost family members, embroidered panels in the style of Guernica, and pillows embroidered after drawings of local people who died of AIDS-related complications. In “Managing Mapula,” Brenda Schmahmann explains that The Keiskamma Guernica was placed at the center of a kraal, a sacred space made of acacia bushes where cattle are usually sacrificed; wire horns were placed where real horns of a bull would be, “attached to a carved wooden plinth.” This art function served as a powerful communal space where embroidery and textiles reconstruct memory, capturing tensions, pain, and hope.

In states of displacement, textiles could represent a resurgence of values, an inspiring response to government that voices out interaction and challenges in the Global South. People in the South are not resigned; their art serves as education, resistance, and the intention to teach by representing pain and hope in critical and beautiful textile works.

Their work carries an etymological meaning, or what lecturer Elizabeth Emery explains means power, it means doing, it means making."

In telling their stories, these women exhibit agency.

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The conversation surrounding post-consumer transboundary textile waste is not strictly an environmental or trade concern, but a conflict that threatens human life (specially in communities of poverty) and perpetuates a culture of disposability rooted in dependency-based arrangements of neoliberal capitalism. This conflict also intersects with censorship and restriction of intellectual freedom, women's agency in art-making, storytelling, and memory-making; and presents a struggle to compete with and overcome postcolonial legacies that define an import-export culture between the Global North and South.

By framing the conversation with a background on the British East India Company, India’s early successes and eventual demise as a leading textile exporter demonstrate how deeply colonial authority and control are embedded in the world economic system.

As Rwanda works to come into its own and develop its infrastructure, it is still limited by high dependence on foreign aid. One can consider the World Bank and IMF’s multi-million dollar structural adjustment agreement with Madagascar, a state whose political disarray would destroy their economic advances. This example doesn’t just serve as a lesson for Rwandans to learn from and avoid by addressing ethnic tensions in the country, but as an example of how structural adjustment tethers so-called ‘developing’ countries to the will of Western donors and stresses the precarity of their economic futures.

At the same time, Rwanda is not entirely innocent either. As much as the country would like to expand trade on a larger scale into the DRC, the issue of a long history of invasion and political disruption muddies this possibility. Over 6 million Congolese died in these invasions, whereas nearly 1 million died in the Rwandan genocide. The hypocrisy of such an insurrectionist history is striking and concerning, especially considering Rwanda’s genocidal background of mass violence and antigenocidal laws today.

Dependency theory can also be used to identify and assess the impacts of false ethnic divisions incited by colonial powers. For instance, the political monopoly of minority Tutsis over the majority Hutu population continues to affect severe tensions in Rwanda and obstruct meaningful development. President Kagame’s government not only privileges the minority Tutsi population, but restricts political opposition through assassinations, imprisonment, and changes to the Constitution to extend

terms. Rwanda often excuses these acts of repression on the basis of fear that tensions will rise in a more open political system and erupt into violence - potentially another genocide. The nation is still concerned that violence will erupt due to the genocide, which has led to violent and harsh silencing of political dissent. Early colonial interference and establishment of hierarchy between Hutus and Tutsis make the relationship between groups contentious. President Kagame’s governing over socio-political issues also challenges Rwandan development.

Rwanda’s development goals, however, are overly consumed with economic liberalization, often resigning for development at the expense of human rights. There are many examples of dependence on foreign models as aspirations for culture and infrastructure, as bases for research, for the negotiation of trade, and in governing systems. Countries in South and East African countries must develop their own strategies of development and deviate from the import-export business model of neoliberal globalization (for instance, through technology exchange in scientific collaboration or South-South trading), not replicate non-contextual versions of one-size fits-all solutions.

This conflict also intersects with censorship and restriction of intellectual freedom, women's agency in art-making, storytelling, and memory-making; and presents a struggle to compete with and overcome postcolonial legacies that define an import-export culture between the Global North and South.

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45 In both the United States and South and East Africa, values-shifts are needed. More specifically, one may look at Rwanda as a site for influencing development, especially due to the country’s commitment to becoming a middle-income-country despite lack of US support. In terms of the needed values-shift, the US value system has eroded into material-driven, consumer desire, where the singular community effort is to consume and produce for consumption. In Rwanda, if art is going to be able to give visibility to citizens’ experiences and effect positive change, call attention to political strife, and really serve as a political and cultural platform, then freedom of expression, flow of information, and intellectual freedom are going to be critical for said industry reform and liberation. Additionally, the case study from Nigeria suggest that education on the environmental and human health risks of textile waste and textile waste disposal may also be critical to capacity building in the Global South. (Therein lies an additional opportunity for future research.) This challenge is particularly significant under the rule of President Kagame, whose resolve over long-term political control and silencing of dissent is unwavering and oppressive.

In his “I Have a Dream'' speech from 1967, as Martin Luther King Jr. discusses how to get on the ‘right side of the world revolution,’ he states that “we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.” Consistent with TWAIL, legislation and reform alone could hardly suffice; in this context, in the US, a values shift must occur not only in terms of our relationship with clothes or personal ethos for limiting consumer impacts, but in framing the conversation as an environmental and human health threat, and by dismantling the US material and neoliberal capitalist culture of disposability. The last task is not so much of the consumer responsibility as it is an institutional and corporate one, which has the potential to be swayed by standards of consumer interest. The US must also appreciate by way of community-based participatory research and capacity building the validity and critical need for perspectives based in the Global South in developing solutions suited for the South, from waste disposal to the development and maintenance of the textile industry.

Additionally, the import-export trickle-down style of influence that pervades colonialism should not continue to serve as a basis for development models in the Global South - not within research, in defining prestige, nor developing a means for handling, rejecting, and disposing of post-consumer transboundary textile waste.

Last, Rwanda must appreciate and protect free flow of information, truly representative government for the Hutu and Tutsi populations, and intellectual freedom which Ghanaian economist Ayittey describes as “the most potent liberating force.”

In terms of the needed values-shift, the US value system has eroded into material-driven, consumer desire, where the singular community effort is to consume and produce for consumption. In Rwanda, if art is going to be able to give visibility to citizens’ experiences and effect positive change, call attention to political strife, and really serve as a political and cultural platform, then freedom of expression, flow of information, and intellectual freedom are going to be critical for said industry reform and liberation.

FUTURE

This zine hardly captures the full scope of post-colonial resistance in the Global South. There are many components from the research stages that are not presented here, including numerous scientific case studies on human and environmental health in Africa, research on textile waste hazards, historical elaborations on countries in the EAC (especially Rwanda), further examples and history of Mapula and Conflict Textiles, and analyses of additional data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity to provide context for the global textile trade.

While the literature supplied concrete examples of women’s memory-making through textiles mediums as resistance, I was unable to navigate any textiles that spoke against African or U.S. government handling of transboundary textile waste. However, research presented here suggests this may be due to a lack of education surrounding waste disposal and the impacts of postconsumer waste on climate change. Another question unanswered by research seeks to determine what kind of political commentary through textiles in the present-day would be considered a threat to the Rwandan government under Kagame today. In this area of research, the researcher can examine Mapula and Conflict Textiles, and compare them alongside the openness of the respective political system.

DIRECTIONS

Due to the lack of African research, there are many considerable opportunities for the continuation of research in the area of post-consumer transboundary textile waste. One might want to explore Africa’s pre colonial past as India was considered in the “Historical Background” section. What is the long-term impact of “The Scramble for Africa,” which led to ethnic partitioning and creation of artificial modern states? Because the UN is still dominated by the opinions of major world leaders, one might consider exploring the UN’s limitations and how its structure privileges large state actors even in providing critical leverage and visibility to smaller states. What is the effectiveness of UN policy in sustainably regulating post-consumer transboundary textile waste?

With the plethora of sustainability-oriented unisex and women’s clothing brands, a second zine could also be made to more intentionally and explicitly address both young male and female audiences on textile innovations by emerging designers and industries.

Perhaps most importantly, it will be significant to conduct community-based participatory research and capacity-building in the Global South, in countries in South and East Africa, to properly devise solutions for sustainable and culturally-consistent waste disposal practices, collaborate on waste research, and build capacity.

The featured case studies examining health advances in the Global South might inform the trajectory of meaningful, locally situated collaborative efforts. While studies have been conducted to gauge community sentiments in Nigeria on the effects of post-consumer textile waste on the environment, future CBPR in South and East Africa might

choose to explore the economic intentions of Rwandans in their coming-of-age textile industry, from the sourcing of textiles and fabrics and production, to determining post-consumer use. Additionally, truly critical research that seeks to understand the nuanced socio-political contexts abroad should engage in Mixed Methods, or research that synthesizes quantitative (closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) data. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services explains a few of the benefits of this emerging research method, which “[gives] a voice to study participants and [ensures] that study findings are grounded in participant’s experiences...fosters scholarly interaction,” and “collects rich, comprehensive data” to “mirror the way individuals naturally collect information...and provide a more complete story than either method would alone.”

In an article for the journal Public Health Reviews, researcher Richard Appiah states that “the researcher must first establish a trusting and honest relationship with the gatekeepers [chiefs and community elders, for instance] and local supporting staff, such as independent mediators, who then lead the researcher to engage with participants in ways that are culturally sanctioned.” Similarly, The School of Public Health at the University of California Berkeley emphasizes the importance of “approaches and processes that reflect local community culture and ways of doing things—even if it slows down the process.”

By using both ‘stories and statistics’, high-quality qualitative and quantitative data collection can be completed in a variety of ways (so long as they remain accessible and maintain policy relevance); for instance, researchers might use methods like “photovoice and community members’ narrative accounts… spatial statistics, secondary data analysis using large government data sets, and even randomized controlled trials.”

Coupled with the collection of stories as findings, community concerns could also be documented quantitatively, for instance, academically trained partners can perform rigorous quantitative studies and community partners can lead “the monitoring, walk-throughs or counting.” The findings and solutions themselves should also be accessible, and their “policy relevance clear.” UCB suggests that this can be presented through “pie charts and graphs, striking quotes from focus groups or interviews, and concise policy briefs.”

There is also an opportunity to track development in Rwanda, and investigate any increasing reliance on Chinese aid and participation in the local textile industry. Will weaning off of U.S.-based trade relationships leave Rwandans and other countries of the EAC no choice but to participate in cheap labor for Chinese clothing production? A more in-depth analysis of fast fashion brands’ commitment to sustainability (versus only surface-level reform in the way of greenwashing) could substantiate the need for a value shift, devise accountability and transparency measures, and better interpret and design closed-loop systems of manufacturing textiles.

REFERENCES

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ADDITIONAL READING

FIN

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POSTCOLONIAL RESISTANCE IN POST-CONSUMER TRANSBOUNDARY TEXTILE WASTE MANAGEMENT, FROM THE US TO SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA

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