The event is hybrid and open to all.

The production and selling of “typical” clothes as souvenirs to tourists is much more tied to the consumption of clothes by Indigenous people than often assumed.

In the village San Juan Chamula in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, Mayan women sell clothes to tourists which are pre used by Indigenous women and men. Second hand embroidered blouses have been in demand for years, for example. The selling of used clothes provides the financial means for a regular purchase of new blouses for Indigenous women and thus enhances the continuous creation of new designs. The analysis of the interconnectedness of textile souvenir selling to tourists and the Indigenous clothes consumption reveals a dynamic and fast paced process of changing traditions.

Why do tourists buy second hand blouses as souvenirs? What do Indigenous women wear when they sell their own blouses to tourists? In my talk I present the case study of San Juan Chamula where I did my first fieldwork research in 1989/90 about the influence of tourism on the villages’ textile production in order to shine a light on how tourists’ souvenir-buying and Indigenous clothes consumption are interwoven with one another.

About the speaker

Dr Birgitta Huse is a London based Social Anthropologist, independent researcher, lecturer and writer. Working on material culture, (cultural)sustainability and tourism she is especially interested in the dynamics of the production, consumption and dissemination of souvenirs, textiles and fashion. She studied at the Universities of London (SOAS), Tübingen (MA) and Freiburg (PhD), Germany, and lectured at Winchester School of Art/University of Southampton, Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico, the Institute of Art and Material Culture, University of Dortmund, and the Institute of Textiles Studies, University of Münster in Germany. Since her first fieldwork in Mexico in San Juan Chamula in 1989/90 which was the base for her PhD she regularly researches about Indigenous textiles, fashion and tourism in this Mayan village as well as in Yucatán. The German and Mexican governments (DAAD, SRE, CONAHCYT) have supported Birgitta’s research. She has published four books, writes for professional journals and magazines. A publication with Bloomsbury Publishing is forthcoming. Her work for institutions of culture and adult learning includes the UNESCO, the Federal German government AIZ Academy for International Cooperation, Bonn, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London.