Regulating Style
Intellectual Property Law and the Business of Fashion in Guatemala
1st Edition
Published on 11. October 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
978-0-520-29097-6 (ISBN)
Description
Fashion knockoffs are everywhere. Even in the out-of-the-way markets of highland Guatemala, fake branded clothes offer a cheap, stylish alternative for people who cannot afford high-priced originals. Fashion companies have taken notice, ensuring that international trade agreements include stronger intellectual property protections to prevent brand "piracy." In Regulating Style, Kedron Thomas approaches the fashion industry from the perspective of indigenous Maya people who make and sell knockoffs, asking why they copy and wear popular brands, how they interact with legal frameworks and state institutions that criminalize their livelihood, and what is really at stake for fashion companies in the global regulation of style.
Reviews / Votes
"Reading Regulating Style, one could imagine the IP conditions described by Thomas as unfolding in Bangladesh, the Philippines, or any of the myriad of other places that produce clothing for the fashion industry. Alongside a historically-specific disregard for and de-legitimization of Mayan culture, the refusal to acknowledge the informal rights of clothing pirates has produced a form of colonial dispossession increasingly common around the world. However, as Thomas also shows, by appropriating a fashion brand, marginalized communities can subvert not only corporate domination and appropriation of locally-produced value, but also the socio-economic and political conditions that cause oppression." * PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review * "This is a methodologically rigorous, carefully crafted, innovative book. Besides being an example of thorough academic scholarship, it becomes evident that the author has exceptional knowledge of and authentic concern for life in the Maya highlands. This fundamentally anthropological study raises many interesting questions with respect to the global IP framework and its impact on development." * ReVista *More details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
14 b-w, 1 map
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
499 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-29097-6 (9780520290976)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2016
1st Edition
University of California Press
€29.49
Available for download
Book
10/2016
1st Edition
University of California Press
€99.20
Article not available at the moment
Person
Kedron Thomas is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. She is coeditor, with Kevin Lewis O'Neill, of Securing the City: Neoliberalism, Space, and Insecurity in Postwar Guatemala.
Content
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Economic Regulation and the Value of Concealment 2. The Ethics of Piracy 3. Brand Pollution 4. Fiscal and Moral Accountability 5. Making the Highlands Safe for Business Conclusion: Late Style Notes References Index