When filmmaker Shantha Bloemen was stationed in a remote village in Zambia as a worker with an international aid organization, she had to adjust to living in a different culture. But one thing struck her as oddly familiar: almost everyone in the village wore secondhand clothing from the West. Bloemen began to imagine stories about the people who used to wear the clothing, wondering if the original owners had any idea that the castoffs they had given to charities ended up being sold to Africans half a world away.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

This PBS documentary shows some of the unexpected consequences of globalization and less well-publicized economic interactions.  This online supplemental to the video allows users to track the journey of a T-shirt.  For additional reading on topic, this article shows how some the same process is impacting the those in Haiti.  The complex interactions that stem from globalization never cease to amaze me.

Tags: industry, economic, poverty, globalization, Africa.

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