Exoticisation Undressed: Ethnographic Nostalgia and Authenticity in Emberá Clothes (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781526134585)

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 Ember'a 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. Through reflexive engagement, Exoticisation undressed exposes the workings of ethnographic nostalgia and the Western quest for a singular, primordial authenticity, unravelling instead new layers of complexity that reverse and subvert exoticisation.

Author: Dimitrios Theodossopoulos
ISBN-10: 1526134586
ISBN-13: 9781526134585
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/25/2018
Pages: 236
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.80d