Africa Casebook

Suzie Bayer Connects to Yusuf Mama

The donation of used and sometimes new clothes to thrift stores is a thriving business in America, that people utilize for many reasons. Some do it for charity, to get tax breaks, and others do it just to get rid of an old shirt with a stain on it. What most people don't know is that “as much as 80 percent”(Packer 201) of these clothes will end up being sold to recycling plants. What happens to them from here you say? They are either destroyed and recycled or sent off to other countries to be sold off in other markets. The argument then arises, is globalization like this good for the people of countries such as Uganda? Or is it detrimental and only keeping them below the poverty level. There are arguments to support both and ultimately Packer gives a vague but fairly definitive opinion on the matter in his essay.

The arguments in favor of a global economy are numerous, but beneficial. They provide jobs for people in several different walks of life like the merchants who sell clothes to the wholesalers like that of Mama Prossy and the sellers of the clothes. Without donations shipped overseas jobs like theirs ultimately lost. Affordable clothing for the masses wouldn't be possible either though, to a country where poverty is rampant and the luxury of new clothes when one is sick of old ones isn't possible. Used clothes from countries like America provides the opportunity for people to buy shirts and pants for low prices like that of Suzie Bayer's t-shirt which shold to Yusef Mama for $1.20. It is things like these that make the globalization of markets beneficial, but there are also arguments against these practices.

Globalization can also be a bad thing the countries it effects. The influence of media for example can lead to misconceptions like that of Scovia Kuloba, who thought “they were all well off”(Packer 205). Even her daughter wouldn't marry another African because of the romantic views from American movies...