Important Note: Please be sure to obtain the updated version of the book. There are chapters in the newer edition that were not in previous editions. Ms. R. Winkler/Ms. A. Rudoy rwinkler@ghchs.com arudoy@ghchs.com Advanced Placement Human Geography Summer 2016 Reading Assignment by Kelsey Timmerman Ninety-seven percent of our clothes are made overseas. Yet globalization makes it difficult to know much about the origin of the products we buy-beyond the standard "Made in" label. So journalist and blogger Kelsey Timmerman decided to visit each of the countries and factories where his five favorite items of clothing were made and meet the workers. He knew the basics of globalized labor-the forces, processes, economics, and politics at work. But what was lost among all those facts and numbers was an understanding of the lives, personalities, hopes, and dreams of the people who made his clothes. by Kelsey Timmerman ISBN# 978-1-118-27755-3 $18.95 Directions: Read and answer all questions below. Answers MUST BE HANDWRITTEN, no type-written answers will be accepted. Please answer in complete sentences. Answers will be due the first day of the fall semester. Be prepared to discuss the book in class. Also complete the map and turn it in with your answers.
by Kelsey Timmerman 1. Kelsey Timmerman, the author of Where Am I Wearing was made in America. Where were his boxers, blue jeans, flip-flops, and his favorite T-shirt made? 2. If isn t so much a question related to geography and clothes, then what is it about? 3. On page 4, Timmerman talks about globalization that resulted in his friends fathers losing their jobs when local factories closed. On the internet, look up the word globalization, define it and describe how it can result in the loss of American jobs. 4. Further down on page 4, the author mentions that poor people who now had the jobs were being exploited. Look up and write what it means to exploit people. 5. What did he think to himself as he stared at a pile of clothes on his floor? 6. On page 5, there is a discussion about sweatshops. Look up and describe what a sweatshop is. 7. In reading books about globalization and the garment industry, Timmerman felt all the books missed something. What were they missing? 8. On page 7, he mentioned the garment industry is more labor-intensive than he thought. Look up and define what labor-intensive means. 9. What is the difference between what activists and some economists feel about the garment industry? 10. To many workers, family is everything. But what is more important? 11. After World War II, the Americans supported trade liberalization in Europe and Asia. Look up and describe what trade liberalization means. 12. Timmerman refers to a book by Thomas Friedman called The World is Flat. In it Friedman describes his Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention. What is the theory? 13. Where did the garment factories in the U.S. go during the 1960s? And after that? 14. How much did Amilcar, a garment worker in Honduras Timmerman had once met, make in a day compared to the price paid for a T-shirt that may have been made in his factory? 15. Why might Honduran and Haitian workers not want Americans protesting about their working conditions? 16. What happened to many department stores in Timmerman s hometown of Union City, OH? 17. What is the most densely-populated country in the world? How many people live there? 18. Why is Timmerman somewhat of a rock star in Bangladesh? 19. Why is Dalton, the general manager of a Motorola store, so highly respected in his village? 20. Why do you think that people are kinder and more willing to show their factories if Timmerman says he s there on business? 21. Describe Salehin s office at the garment buying house. 22. How many years had Habir, a young man Timmerman brought to an amusement park, been working to support his family? How much is he paid? 23. What are street scavengers? 24. How long does it take for some Bangladeshis to earn the $67.00 entrance fee to the amusement park? 25. What advantages does China have over Bangladesh in the garment industry? 26. Why did Americans boycott clothes made in Bangladesh? 27. Why did the child laborers in Bangladesh disagree with Americans boycott of clothing made in Bangladesh? 28. Although child labor has been outlawed in Bangladeshi factories, 93% of child workers continue to work in the informal sector. Look online to define what informal sector means. 29. Child labor is currently allowed in the United States under what condition? (page 49) 30. Why did the garment industry favor women and children as workers in 19 th century England? 31. What is Timmerman s conclusion regarding child labor after visiting the factories in Bangladesh? 32. What is the best way to lift a society from poverty? What has happened to the total fertility rate in Bangladesh since 1975? 33. How much does Arifa, a single mother in Bangladesh, earn per day? 34. Because Arifa s apartment is so small, where is the food kept? 35. Where is Arifa s oldest son? How long will he be gone? 36. How do microcredit loans work? Why are 98% of the loans paid back?
37. How did Shokinan use microcredit to become successful? 38. Garment factories are poorly-made structures that have caused many deaths and injuries to their workers. Go online and find an article about the factory disaster in Bangladesh last month (May, 2013). Summarize what happened. 39. Although wages have almost doubled since Timmerman s last visit, why haven t garment workers lives changed much? 40. Why do people in Cambodia, who have very little money, pay to let a caged bird go free? 41. While Cambodians talk of the importance of their land and their home, what is a major problem with the farmland in Cambodia? 42. While the Khmer Rouge guided Cambodia to specialize in producing rice, it crushed the economy. What saved the Cambodian economy? 43. What percentage of Cambodia s exports is from the apparel industry? 44. Why are some Cambodian women torn between two worlds? 45. Why is ironing the least-desirable job in the garment factories? 46. Eight girls live in an 8 x 12-foot apartment in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. That s 96 square feet of living space for eight people. Ask your parents the square footage of your house or apartment. How many people live in that space? 47. Why is there no McDonald s in Bangladesh? 48. What are some of the big American companies that source from Cambodia? 49. There s only place that sells Levi s in Cambodia. Where do they get their supply of jeans? 50. How many family members does Cambodian worker Phoan support by sending part of her paycheck to her home village? 51. When Timmerman asks what would you tell someone in the USA who won t buy the jeans that you make because they don t think you are paid enough or treated fairly? what is Ai s response? 52. Although most unions are designed to help workers, why would it be a problem if unions got everything they wanted? 53. Tuomo, the Cambodian director of the international Labour Organization states that currently $24 million in remittances are sent back to villages. What are remittances? 54. How many countries does Levi s source from? 55. Why does Timmerman nickname some garment workers the Queens of Cool? What is their task at work? 56. How many days do garment workers get off per week? How many holidays per year? 57. How much did garment worker Nari have to pay in order to get her job? How much of her income was this? 58. How much do scavengers at the waste dump make per day? How much do kids make going through the older piles of garbage? 59. Explain the last paragraph of chapter 18 on page 133. 60. By December 2009, how many factories closed and how many workers lost their jobs as a result of the global financial crisis? 61. What profession have countless girls who lost their jobs turned to? 62. What are the various reasons for mass faintings of workers in Cambodia? 63. Why is a lot of the work of making tennis shoes done by hand rather than machine? 64. Why haven t Dewan and Zhu Chun seen their only son in 2-3 years? 65. What percentage of the world s shoes is produced in China? 66. Companies race to the bottom. What does this mean? 67. What characteristics make China a superior country for manufacturing compared to other developing nations? 68. Why do Dewan and Zhu Chun often work overtime for free? 69. Dewan and Zhu Chun change their story when Timmerman met them a second time. Why did they lie if they thought he was a customer? 70. What region of the U.S. first contained garment factories and textile mills? Where d they move to prior to garment worker jobs going overseas? 71. What are the benefits of living in a rural village in China as opposed to the cities? 72. How many hours a day did Lin Chang work when she lived in Guangzhou? How many hours in the village?
73. Why doesn t she move back? 74. On page 179, Timmerman states that he is helpless compared to a hunter-gatherer who lived in 10,000 B.C. Explain. 75. What unusual foods are sold in the Chinese Walmart? 76. What percentage of the Walmart products in China is made in China? 77. How large is the Chinese middle class? How many are predicted by the year 2020? 78. How much does Pat, the vice president of the company that makes Timmerman s flip-flops, earn compared to Zhu Chun and Dewan who actually make the shoes? 79. What are the most important types of freedom the growing Chinese economy has provided? 80. How long do workers wait in line for tickets for the train to go home for Chinese New Year? 81. Why have many decided to stay inland after the 2008 global recession ended? 82. What caused a raise in wages in China in 2010? How are factories responding to the wage increase? 83. What are the main causes of death in the U.S.? Developing countries? 84. An American company, American Classic Outfitters (ACO), can provide something other foreign factories cannot. What is that? 85. At ACO, how much does a new sewer get paid compared to those in Bangladesh and Cambodia? 86. What, unfortunately, has happened to the American ACO factory in November 2009? 87. Why is Honduras called the Homicide Capital of the World by the Washington Post? 88. What percentage of Hondurans don t have their basic needs met? What are considered to be basic needs? 89. Although unions help workers, why did Karla, Amilcar s sister, say she d never join one? 90. Where was Amilcar when Timmerman went to visit him in Honduras? How did he get there? 91. What is known as the beast to migrants traveling through Mexico to get to the U.S.? Why is it called that? 92. What is a coyote to migrants? 93. What is the estimated number of undocumented immigrants currently in the United States? 94. It took Timmerman about 8 hours to fly from Indiana to Honduras. How long did it take Amilcar to get from Honduras to the United States? 95. What would have to change for Amilcar to be able to see his family in 8 hours? 96. How many shoes is solerebels expected to sell by 2015? What is the most important equation? 97. What does Bethelehem, founder of solerebels, want her company to become? 98. The apparel industry has lots of issues but what s the real problem? 99. What does Timmerman mean when he states a good job has an exponential impact? 100. What two crucial facts do we, as Americans, need to recognize?
World Map Directions: As you read Where Am I Wearing, label each country that Kelsey Timmerman visits and write what article of clothing was made in each country. Then color or shade in the country. Labels can be written in the oceans with arrows pointing to the correct country.