Tuesday, March 3, 2020 • 4:00 – 5:00 pm
UO ERB Memorial Union, Miller Room

The first talk of the 4th annual series is presented by Associate Professor Lamia Karim of the University of Oregon Department of Anthropology. 
The Arc of Change: Inter-generational Changes Among Garment Workers in Bangladesh
Much attention has been paid to the conditions of garment workers in Bangladesh, where much of the world’s clothing originates.  But little is known about the factors that lead so many young women into this work, and the lives they lead while working in this industry.  Prof. Karim’s research focuses on the working-class women who entered garment factors seduced by hopes of attaining the “good life.” The good life they aspire to includes a slight improvement in the material conditions of their lives––the ability to purchase food, good clothes, a house without a leaking roof, schooling for children, etc. But they also aspire to new imaginative worlds that offer the possibility of love, warmth, and creativity. While the door to material improvement has opened, the door to the world of broader human desires is brutally shut to them.  Prof. Karim examines these women’s lives at the interstices of the aspiration for a good life and the betrayals that make those aspirations impossible.

The Colloquium is an interdisciplinary speaker series designed for UO faculty and graduate students to present works in progress.
All talks are free and open to the entire campus and Eugene communities.

For more information about this or other Colloquium talks, please contact Gordon Lafer at glafer@uoregon.edu