The Hand of the Ancestors: Time, Cultural Production, and Intellectual Property Law

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 943-973
Author(s):  
Boatema Boateng
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-116
Author(s):  
Fiona Macmillan

Abstract This work sets out to consider the fate of creativity and forms of cultural production as they fall into and between the regimes of cultural heritage law and intellectual property law. It examines and challenges the dualisms that ground both regimes, exposing their (unsurprising) reflection of occidental ways of seeing the world. The work reflects on the problem of regulating creativity and cultural production according to Western thought systems in a world that is not only Western. At the same time, it accepts that the challenge in taking on the dualisms that hold together the existing legal regimes regulating creativity and cultural production lies in a critically nuanced approach to the geo-political distinction between the West and the rest. Like many of the distinctions considered in this book, this is one that holds and does not hold.


This chapter introduces readers to the knock-off fashion trade in Tecpán, Guatemala, where hundreds of indigenous Maya men own small-scale workshops where they make clothing that features unauthorized reproductions of popular fashion brands. Drawing on the anthropology of fashion, cultural studies, archaeology, and material culture studies, the Introduction also develops a theory of style that emphasizes the importance of copying and imitation to processes of cultural production. The chapter situates fashion branding within a broader context of “highland style,” defined by an effusive aesthetics and complicated relationships among race, ethnicity, gender, and dress in a place perhaps best known for the traditional, woven blouses and skirts (traje) worn by many Maya women. Appreciating the importance of copying and imitation to the unfolding of style in highland Guatemala and across the global fashion industry opens up questions about the privileging of a particular model of creativity, originality, and modernity in international intellectual property law.


Author(s):  
Mark J. Davison ◽  
Ann L. Monotti ◽  
Leanne Wiseman

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