Everyday Life of Ready-made Garment Kormi in Bangladesh: An Ethnography of Neoliberalism

Preface
Acknowledgments
Praise for Everyday Life of Ready-made Garment Kormi in Bangladesh
Contents
About the Author
Abbreviations
List of Figures
Part I
	Chapter 1: Contextualizing Ready-Made Garment Work in Bangladesh
		The Garment Kormi: Who, Why, and How?
			The Contradictions and Gaps
			Inequality, Difference, and the Garment Kormi
			Garment Kormi and the Parameters of Analysis
		Situating ‘Everyday Life’
			Everyday Life and Capitalism
			Everyday Life and Work
			Everyday Life and Neoliberalism
		Field Locations
		Methodology: Access to the Factory and Initial Encounters
		Propositions
		Chapter Overview
		References
Part II
	Chapter 2: The Roots of Local Capitalism: Outlining and Understanding Global Connections
		Introduction
		Understanding Capitalism in Bangladesh: An Outline of the Connections
			The Mughals and the Extraction of Wealth from the Villages
			The British and the Drain of Wealth from the Colony
			Land Distribution in the Postcolonial Era, Structural Adjustments, and Pauperization
		Development of the Garment Industry and the Continuation of the Process of Accumulation
			Global Capital and the State: Emerging Inequalities
			Global Policies and Uneven Market Relations
		Structural Power and Bangladesh’s Transition Toward Industrial Capitalism
		Concluding Remarks
		References
	Chapter 3: Tensions and Negotiations in Neoliberalism: Emergence of Garment Kormi as the Model Citizens
		Introduction
		Rebuilding the Sonar Bangla Through Modeling Its Citizens
		The Woman Question and the Financialization of Social Life
		Woman as (Industrial) Garment Kormi: From Burden to Prospects
		Concluding Remarks
		References
Part III
	Chapter 4: Becoming Garment Kormi: Life in the Garment Factory
		Introduction
		Becoming Garment Kormi: A Way Out of Economic Crisis and More
			‘At Least We Do Not Have to Worry About Our Next Meal’
			‘The Return One Receives from Garments Is Better than Agriculture’
			‘I Can Make Changes in My Life Because of My Earnings in Garment Work’
			‘The Hard Work Is Worthwhile’
			‘It Is Good but not Good Enough’
		Garment Kormi: Contextualizing Industrial Lives
			The Recruitment Process: The Long Wait
			The Inclusive Excluded Space
			During the Lunch Breaks
			The Silent Power of the ‘Seniors’
		The Structure Inside the Factory
			Operators and Supervisors
			Workers’ Disagreements with Management About Salaries
			Contested Authority in the Work Process
			Work and Time
		Concluding Remarks
		References
	Chapter 5: Kinship in the Factory: Garment Kormi Living a Life Away from Home
		Introduction
		Garment Kormi and Aspects of Relatedness: The Ideological World
			Getting a Job and Navigating the Factory Regime
			Disciplinary Power and Kinship Ideology in the Work Process
			Hierarchy of Values
			Workers in the Factory: Uncertainty, Hope, and Collective Resistance
			(Religious) Ideologies and the Paradoxes of Collective Action
			Kinship Relationality: Dependency in Autonomy
		Kinship Without ‘Fixed Faces’: Flexibility in Relatedness
		Authority, Power, and the Paradoxes of Relatedness in the Factory
		Concluding Remarks
		References
	Chapter 6: Negotiating the Public and the Private: Garment Kormi Becoming Joggo
		Introduction
		Socio-economic Effects of ‘Modern Industry Work’
			Roles and Responsibilities at Home
			The Earner Versus the Manager of Finances
			Marriage by One’s Own Choice
			Overcoming Stigma
		Life as Garment Kormi
			Work as Responsibility: For Family and Factory
			Ideas About Money: Expanding Necessities
			Ideas About Consumer Items
			Value of Work as Freedom and Becoming Joggo
		Concluding Remarks
		References
	Chapter 7: Dare to Dream: Remaking Everyday Realities
		Introduction
		Worth, Uncertainty, and Futures
			The Family: Responsibility and Desire
			Life on Workdays and Weekends
			The Payday
			Shopping for Loved Ones and the Plan for a ‘Happy’ Day
		Today’s Hard Work Will Remake the Future
			Distant Future Scenarios
			The Capacity of Aspirations for the Future
		Ideological Totalization and Alternative Collective Sociality
		Concluding Remarks
		References
Part IV
	Chapter 8: Paradoxes of Factory Compliance: Auditing, CSR, and ‘New’ Dispossession
		Introduction
		Agenda for a Fairer Future: Previsioning Instruments
		Auditing in RMG Factories: Performative Rituals and ‘New’ Dispossession
		Compliance Practices: A Safeguard for Bideshis
		Paradoxes of CSR: Labor Control to Corporate Branding
		The Influence of Buying Practices: Punctuated Times
		The Making of Workers into Legal Subjects
		Concluding Remarks
		References
Part V
	Chapter 9: The Multiple Realities of Neoliberalism and Garment Kormi
		The Overarching Context
		Employment and the Multiple Realities of Garment Kormi
		Conclusions: Women, the State, and Neoliberalism(s) in Bangladesh
		References
	Chapter 10: Epilogue: During the Pandemic
		Garment Kormi and Coronavirus: Events of Abandonment
		Global Brands Must Do Their Part
		A Big Appears While Many Smalls Disappear
		Whose Sustainability Is It Anyway?
		Work Comes at a Price
		References
Index