Youbin Kang

Youbin Kang is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research studies the changing nature of work in global supply chains, and its implications on regulation, law, and economic development. She received a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University and a B.F.A. in Textiles from Rhode Island School of Design as part of the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program. Her B.A./B.F.A. resulted in a written thesis that explored managerial values and its relation to private compliance initiatives in the garment industry, and a performance piece on the dynamics of supply chain actors inspired by American pro-wrestling. She received her M.Phil in Innovation, Strategy, and Organisations at the University of Cambridge, where she wrote her dissertation on the institutional background of the managerial sensemaking of garment factory owners in response to a multistakeholder initiative to improve building and fire safety in Bangladesh. Before starting her graduate studies at UW-Madison, Youbin worked at the International Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland researching the textiles, clothing, leather, footwear, electronics, shipbuilding, and transportation sectors. This summer, Youbin will be conducting preliminary research in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Geneva, Switzerland for her dissertation that explores how transnational governance affects working conditions in the garment industry of Bangladesh in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza and Tazreen industrial disasters that has killed more than 1200 workers.

Read Youbin Kang’s fellowship report here.