Policy and informal labour in the Global South: The rise of sweatshops in Argentina in a time of economic recovery (2002-2010)

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Concerned with 'the return of the sweatshop' as a main way of doing business in garment manufacturing, in my PhD thesis (submitted in December, 2010) I aim at identifying the changes that the fashion industry has experienced in the transition from Fordism to Neoliberalism, and their consequences over working conditions. In addition I address the question of what do sweatshops tell us about the neoliberal form of government. The primary aim of my PDF is to publish the main outcomes of my doctoral research. The Fellowship would provide me with time to pull out certain passages of my thesis to give them the form of journal articles. Article topics include: "Fashion and 'new slavery';" "trade unions and migrant labour organising;" "informal labour and Industrial Districts in today's Italy;" and "informal labour and the state in Argentina." The second most important objective of my project is the dissemination of my research, mostly in academic events, but also to a broad range of community users (e.g. NGOs and politicians). The activities include: (a) conference participation and organisation of sessions on 'geographies of informal labour'; (b) a two-weeks visit to Italy in order to give seminars with focus groups about the findings of my case study in Prato (ideally including interviews with media); and (c) a two-months Overseas Institutional Visit to the Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (IDIHCS-CONICET, Argentina). Another key objective in the undertaking of the PDF is to acquire advanced training and skills. This will be made through participation in relevant courses organised by SED, and through registration in a course (30hs) on labour policy and the capitalistic restructuration of Argentina since the mid 1970s (at the IDIHCS-CONICET).Finally, further limited supplementary research will be conducted. I plan to explore the state regulation of informal labour. The driving questions are: (a) To what extent does the state allow, indeed facilitate, the development of informal economic circuits?; and (b) How does the state deal with the protection of workers in the informal sector? My emphasis will be on the Global South, more specifically in Argentina, following the case study on sweatshops in Buenos Aires for my PhD. Activities involve: up to 10 further interviews (with anti-sweatshop activists, workshop owners, and officials at the national and regional states); informal meetings with academics working on state everyday practices in Argentina, and on Argentine's labour market structure; and identification and preliminary analysis of relevant literature.With a number of scholars working or having worked on labour geographies - including Gavin Bridge, Kevin Ward, Neil Coe, Peter Dicken and Noel Castree (my proposed mentor) - the SED at Manchester is the most relevant single institution producing literature on the issue, and is the most accurate place to undertake my PDF. It is expected that the most straightforward beneficiaries of my research will be, on the one hand, academics working on the several issues addressed in my thesis and follow-up research, and, on the other hand, sweatshop workers in Buenos Aires and Prato. Amongst the former are those working on labour geographies; neoliberal political economy; the neoliberal state; clothing manufacturing and fashion; work and employment; informal and migrant labour organising; trafficking in humans; and child and forced labour. In addition, the development of empirically informed theory about state regulation/non-regulation of informal labour in the Global South has a strong potential for policy-making and community groups' action worldwide.