Mapping Transnational Pathways in the Second-Hand Clothing Exchange and Informal Economies in Filipino Communities in the Diaspora and the Philippines
This study explores the transnational pathways in second-hand clothing exchange and informal economies, examining perceptions and lived experiences with the global and domestic trade and materiality of used clothes, waste policies, and waste colonialism—referring to waste export practices from wealthier to poorer countries—affecting diasporic Filipinos in New York and homeland Filipinos in the Philippines. Data was collected through a mixed research design, staging second-hand clothes exchanges and conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews in Little Manila, Queens, home to the Filipino diaspora in New York City; in Tramo, Santa Lucia, a working-class neighborhood in Pasig City, Philippines; and with second-hand clothes merchants in Baguio City, known as the ukay-ukay (second-hand market) capital of the Philippines. Furthermore, samples of second-hand clothes in Little Manila and Tramo, Santa Lucia were characterized by brand attribution, manufacturing origin, and material content. The analysis highlights altruistic, economic, and environmental motivations in the disposal and reuse of second-hand clothes, but these are delineated by generational, transnational, and socio-economic differences. Moreover, the characterization of second-hand clothes and captured mixed media reveal contradictions to the perceived better quality of imported clothes and highlight complex economic motivations shaped by waste colonialism and waste policies. The findings suggest that the second-hand clothing exchange within and across Filipino communities in the diaspora and the Philippines creates an effective space for developing critical consciousness towards consumerism, waste colonialism, and corporate and state accountability.
Research Presentations:
Research Presentations: