Resumen de Gender, commodity chains and everyday life
Deborah Leslie
In recent years, geographers have argued for a commodity chain approach to consumption. This approach involves tracing the multiple activities associated with the production of one good or service, such as manufacturing, consumption, design, retailing, marketing and advertising. Each commodity chain displays a distinct spatiality, but also distinct ethical and political concerns. The growing attractiveness of this approach relates to a broader “cultural turn” in human geography, which aims to bring together economy and culture, production and consumption, and the material and the symbolic. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the emergence and importance of a commodity chain approach to consumption, contrast it with other approaches, and to foreground the need to interrogate questions of gender along the chain. Through a case study of gender relations across space in the clothing commodity chain, the chapter will highlight the connections between women and the political possibilities opened up by a commodity chain approach.
