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.

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


Book Information
ISBN 9781526134585
Author Dimitrios Theodossopoulos
Format Paperback
Page Count 236
Imprint Manchester University Press
Publisher Manchester University Press
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 13mm