Andrew Brooks
Andrew Brooks was appointed a Lecturer in Development Geography in September 2011.
He began his university career as an undergraduate at King's College London and received a First in Geography and the Departmental prize. After graduating he worked for VSO for two years as a social researcher in Papua New Guinea and on programme development in the UK. He was then awarded an ESRC funded 1+3 studentship and began a Master's and Doctorate at the Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London. Successfully defending his PhD thesis in October 2011.
His PhD research investigated social and economic change in Southern Africa through a case study of the used-clothing trade in Mozambique. He was a visiting researcher at the IESE (Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos – Institute of Social and Economic Study) Maputo, Mozambique, in 2009-10 whilst he undertook 12 months extensive fieldwork in support of his thesis.
In other research interventions he has investigated Chinese investment, consumption and corruption in Africa and has applied the global production networks approach to exploring trade. As well as researching the clothing and fashion industries across the Global North and South.
He has given seminars and contributed to symposia at various institutions in Mozambique, Portugal, Sweden the UK and the USA.
Phone: 02078482571
Address: Department of Geography
King's Colllege London
Strand, London
WC2R 2LS
email: andrew.brooks@kcl.ac.uk
He began his university career as an undergraduate at King's College London and received a First in Geography and the Departmental prize. After graduating he worked for VSO for two years as a social researcher in Papua New Guinea and on programme development in the UK. He was then awarded an ESRC funded 1+3 studentship and began a Master's and Doctorate at the Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London. Successfully defending his PhD thesis in October 2011.
His PhD research investigated social and economic change in Southern Africa through a case study of the used-clothing trade in Mozambique. He was a visiting researcher at the IESE (Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos – Institute of Social and Economic Study) Maputo, Mozambique, in 2009-10 whilst he undertook 12 months extensive fieldwork in support of his thesis.
In other research interventions he has investigated Chinese investment, consumption and corruption in Africa and has applied the global production networks approach to exploring trade. As well as researching the clothing and fashion industries across the Global North and South.
He has given seminars and contributed to symposia at various institutions in Mozambique, Portugal, Sweden the UK and the USA.
Phone: 02078482571
Address: Department of Geography
King's Colllege London
Strand, London
WC2R 2LS
email: andrew.brooks@kcl.ac.uk
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Papers by Andrew Brooks
liberalization policies in the early 1980s whilst used-clothing imports
to Africa have increased. The general effects of economic liberalization on
African clothing industries are well documented, although little research has
been conducted on the particular impact of increased imports of second-hand
clothes on the local manufacturing sectors. Whether these two processes are
causally related is difficult to determine due to limitations in official data
sets. In this article, the used-clothing trade is explored in detail and a broad
range of cultural and local economic processes are investigated. Trends such
as declining local purchasing power and the opening of African markets to
cheap new clothing imports, as well as imports of used-clothing, are examined, along with the converse boost to African clothing export production
resulting from preferential trade agreements in the 2000s. With respect to
the differential legal and illegal imports of second-hand clothing to selected
African countries, it is demonstrated that official trade data sets often fail to
capture the nuances of contemporary social and economic processes.
Books by Andrew Brooks
Using research from around the globe, colourful stories and hard data demonstrate how the clothing, textile and recycling sectors have played a major part in making different regions of the world rich and poor. Clothing Poverty uncovers how fast fashion retailers and charity shops are embroiled in commodity chains which perpetuate poverty.
Stitching together rich narratives from Papua New Guinean tribal people, Mozambican cotton growers, Zambian factory workers, American jeans markets, international charities, Nigerian smugglers, London’s vintage clothing scene and Vivienne Westwood’s new ethical designer lines, Brooks uncovers the many secret sides of fashion.
Tracing the long arc of human history from hunter gatherer societies to the early twenty first century, Andrew Brooks rejects popular explanations for the divergence of nations. This accessible and illuminating volume shows how the wealth of ‘the West’ and poverty of ‘the rest’ stem not from environmental factors or some unique European cultural, social or technological qualities, but from the expansion of colonialism and the rise of America. Brooks puts the case that international inequality was moulded by capitalist development over the last 500 years.
The End of Development provides a compelling account of how human history unfolded differently in varied regions of the world. Brooks argues that we must now seize the opportunity afforded by today’s changing economic geography to transform attitudes towards inequality and to develop radical new approaches to addressing global poverty, as the alternative is to accept that impoverishment is somehow part of the natural order of things.
Writing by Andrew Brooks
There is no arguing with the fact that the history of fashion, like the history of utopian thought, has been stained by suffering, exploitation, and even totalitarianism, but despite their deficiencies and faults, both have also fuelled human imagination, encouraged aspiration and innovation, and provided hope for a better sense of self and an improved, more inclusive society. A world without fashion, like a world without utopia, would be a very sad one. Through this special issue we propose a dialogue that embraces the significance of fashion in utopian visions and one that exploits the potential of utopian imagination to inspire better and more sustainable fashion futures. A dialogue that is fuelled by the belief that positive social change is both possible and desirable.
Guest editor: Mila Burcikova
Contributors: Jane MacRae Campbell, Justyna Galant, Annebella Pollen, Andrew Brookes, Kate Fletcher, Robert A. Francis, Emma Dulcie Rigby, Thomas Roberts, Otto von Busch, Timo Rissanen, Vidmina Stasiulyte, Celia Pym, Ryan Yasin
liberalization policies in the early 1980s whilst used-clothing imports
to Africa have increased. The general effects of economic liberalization on
African clothing industries are well documented, although little research has
been conducted on the particular impact of increased imports of second-hand
clothes on the local manufacturing sectors. Whether these two processes are
causally related is difficult to determine due to limitations in official data
sets. In this article, the used-clothing trade is explored in detail and a broad
range of cultural and local economic processes are investigated. Trends such
as declining local purchasing power and the opening of African markets to
cheap new clothing imports, as well as imports of used-clothing, are examined, along with the converse boost to African clothing export production
resulting from preferential trade agreements in the 2000s. With respect to
the differential legal and illegal imports of second-hand clothing to selected
African countries, it is demonstrated that official trade data sets often fail to
capture the nuances of contemporary social and economic processes.
Using research from around the globe, colourful stories and hard data demonstrate how the clothing, textile and recycling sectors have played a major part in making different regions of the world rich and poor. Clothing Poverty uncovers how fast fashion retailers and charity shops are embroiled in commodity chains which perpetuate poverty.
Stitching together rich narratives from Papua New Guinean tribal people, Mozambican cotton growers, Zambian factory workers, American jeans markets, international charities, Nigerian smugglers, London’s vintage clothing scene and Vivienne Westwood’s new ethical designer lines, Brooks uncovers the many secret sides of fashion.
Tracing the long arc of human history from hunter gatherer societies to the early twenty first century, Andrew Brooks rejects popular explanations for the divergence of nations. This accessible and illuminating volume shows how the wealth of ‘the West’ and poverty of ‘the rest’ stem not from environmental factors or some unique European cultural, social or technological qualities, but from the expansion of colonialism and the rise of America. Brooks puts the case that international inequality was moulded by capitalist development over the last 500 years.
The End of Development provides a compelling account of how human history unfolded differently in varied regions of the world. Brooks argues that we must now seize the opportunity afforded by today’s changing economic geography to transform attitudes towards inequality and to develop radical new approaches to addressing global poverty, as the alternative is to accept that impoverishment is somehow part of the natural order of things.
There is no arguing with the fact that the history of fashion, like the history of utopian thought, has been stained by suffering, exploitation, and even totalitarianism, but despite their deficiencies and faults, both have also fuelled human imagination, encouraged aspiration and innovation, and provided hope for a better sense of self and an improved, more inclusive society. A world without fashion, like a world without utopia, would be a very sad one. Through this special issue we propose a dialogue that embraces the significance of fashion in utopian visions and one that exploits the potential of utopian imagination to inspire better and more sustainable fashion futures. A dialogue that is fuelled by the belief that positive social change is both possible and desirable.
Guest editor: Mila Burcikova
Contributors: Jane MacRae Campbell, Justyna Galant, Annebella Pollen, Andrew Brookes, Kate Fletcher, Robert A. Francis, Emma Dulcie Rigby, Thomas Roberts, Otto von Busch, Timo Rissanen, Vidmina Stasiulyte, Celia Pym, Ryan Yasin