Exoticisation undressed: Ethnographic nostalgia and authenticity in Emberá clothes (New Ethnographies)

Exoticisation undressed: Ethnographic nostalgia and authenticity in Emberá clothes (New Ethnographies)

by Dimitrios Theodossopoulos (Author), Dimitrios Theodossopoulos (Author)

Synopsis

Exoticisation Undressed is an innovative ethnography that makes visible the many layers through which our understandings of indigenous cultures are filtered and their inherent power to distort and refract understanding. The book focuses in detail on the clothing practices of the Embera in Panama, an Amerindian ethnic group, who have gained national and international visibility through their engagement with indigenous tourism. The very act of gaining visibility while wearing indigenous attire has encouraged among some Embera communities a closer identification with an indigenous identity and a more confident representational awareness. The clothes that the Embera wear are not simply used to convey messages, but also become constitutive of their intended messages. By wearing indigenous-and-modern clothes, the Embera-who are often seen by outsiders as shadows of a vanishing world-reclaim their place as citizens of a contemporary nation.

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Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 238
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 25 Oct 2018

ISBN 10: 1526134586
ISBN 13: 9781526134585

Author Bio
Dimitrios Theodossopoulos is Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of Kent, Canterbury