Threads of Life:
Counter-Mapping Jordan’s Clothing Production Zones
The Invisible Workers team invites you to go behind the scenes of Jordan’s clothing and footwear industry. Our team in collaboration with our partners, 10 Tooba, will share preview findings and discussion from counter-mapping activities with workers at two of Jordan’s largest production zones, Al-Hassan (Irbid) and Ad-Dhulayl (Zarqa).
About 80.000 workers, the majority of whom are from South Asia, sew sports and outdoor clothing for American brands in secluded industrial zones across Jordan. This event presents the core findings of a process of worker-centred counter-mapping in Jordan’s two largest clothing production zones, Al-Hassan (Irbid) and Ad-Dhulayl (Zarqa).
Focusing on everyday practices of diverse worker communities, the emerging maps tell nuanced stories about what life and labour in Jordan’s export-oriented garment industry is like.
Participatory cartography here opens an alternative engagement with, and intimate insights into, experiences of factory workers from Jordan, Syria, Madagascar and different Asian countries who construct livelihoods in places that largely remain invisible to outsiders.
Presenters:
Katharina Grueneisl is a geographer and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham
Heba Zakarneh is an architect and a research assistant for the University of Nottingham
Ahmed Zaazaa is an urban researcher and designer, and co-founder of 10 Tooba
Omar Altawansy is an architect and urban researcher working with 10 Tooba
“10 Tooba: Applied Research on the Built Environment”, founded in 2014 in Cairo, is an interdisciplinary group of built environment professionals with expertise in participatory planning and policy analysis, working closely with urban communities in Egypt and beyond.
The session will run on Saturday 3rd May from 6pm (Amman time) and will be held in person at the MMAG Foundation in Amman, Jordan, as well as online.
To join in person or online, please register at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdD5pye2JUpO7-hZrsxRsnSA2DUIlcgJlLQKe4OWWfl6HSIMg/viewform.