Reduced ‘fates of the body’ and ‘production of value for others’ in the global garment industry: Thinking with Berlant on eating and hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, suspended and laid off garment workers struggled on severely reduced incomes to meet the cost of food for themselves and their families. It is in this context of ‘double crisis’ that our commentary focuses on the diminished eating and reduced bodily fates of garment workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that thinking with Berlant encourages and supports scholars to contemplate and articulate how the ‘production of value for others’ can reduce the ‘fates of the body’ of those living and labouring at the sharp end of the capitalist system.