University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Spring 2020 Puruhá Fashion as Aesthetic Sovereignty: Identity Making and Indigenous Dress in Ecuador Anaïs M. Parada Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Parada, A. M.(2020). Puruhá Fashion as Aesthetic Sovereignty: Identity Making and Indigenous Dress in Ecuador. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5830 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PURUHÁ FASHION AS AESTHETIC SOVEREIGNTY : IDENTITY MAKING AND INDIGENOUS DRESS IN ECUADOR by Anaïs M. Parada Bachelor of Arts University of Illinois, 2009 Master of Arts University of South Carolina, 2015 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2020 Accepted by: Sherina Feliciano-Santos, Major Professor Kim Simmons, Committee Member David Kneas, Committee Member Courtney Lewis, Committee Member Jennifer Reynolds, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Anaïs M. Parada, 2020 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION To my parents, for the stories they told me and the journeys they inspired, and to the ancestors I’ll never know, whose stories I’ll never hear. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my endless gratitude to Sisa Morocho for her support and warmth, and her friends, for being so kind and inviting. I am thankful beyond words to all my participants, without whom there would be no dissertation. To my committee, Sherina Feliciano-Santos, for dealing with my ethical crises and getting me (mostly) past my imposter syndrome. Kim Simmons, for being an academic mother to me. Jennifer Reynolds for challenging me and in turn, making my work so much better. Courtney Lewis, for being my career role model. David Kneas, for offering insights that shaped my relationship with Ecuador. I would also like to thank Dr. Michael Hill for guiding me while I was in Ecuador. This work would also not have been possible without funding from the SPARC Graduate Research Grant and the Russell and Dorothy Bilinski Fellowship, nor would it have been possible without the understanding you get from someone else going through a PhD (whether in your cohort or not). To Brittany, Megan, Sam, Tiffany, Alex and Rebecca- you know what you mean to me. I would like to thank Esteban, my Ecuadorian brother, and his family. To all my friends who traveled with me, decompressed with me, and generally gave me a life outside of academia. To Matthew, for feeding (and believing in) me in three different countries. Finally, I am especially grateful to my family: Mama and Papa, who made me who I am. Leyla and Andy, who are entirely responsible for me getting out of this thing alive and who I will never be able to repay. Mingo and Ann for being endlessly supportive, and my cat Monkey- my constant companion and the best reason for coming home (even if it takes a while). iv ABSTRACT Puruhá fashion designers, vendors, and sellers have used their cultural heritage to create an emerging dress market that is both locally productive and nationally disruptive. These entrepreneurs have combined traditional dress with contemporary elements to create a new style that is distinctly recognizable as Puruhá, and thus acts as both a cultural and an individual brand. In a nation-state that offers its Indigenous people tokenism and concessions that don’t otherwise challenge the status of existing governmental and legal systems, having control over one’s own narrative through branding is a revolutionary act. In fact, the fight for economic autonomy against state sanctioned development programs is central to how many Puruhá social actors describe their shared history and current motivations. For Puruhá dress designers and sellers, autonomous economic success eliminates the notion that Indigenous people need a middleman to help them negotiate any non-local market, a rhetoric unfortunately still present in Ecuador today. It also gives them access to social capital, such as business networks and high fashion language, which had previously not been accessible because of the devaluation of Indigenous artistry in Ecuador. In this way Puruhá entrepreneurs have been able to sidestep legal political recognition within Ecuador in favor of broader social visibility through economic achievements, which can be implemented without the direct support of the nation-state. v I focus specifically on how the entrepreneurial strategies they use rely on both global capitalist models and Andean community-oriented and reciprocal models, which challenge neoliberal state ideologies that have been exploitative of Indigenous Ecuadorians in the past. In addition, I argue that this dress is a special form of commodity, since it also acts as an art object and as a malleable marker of identities. Thus, this research necessarily contributes to semiotic theory in practice, the ability to understand Puruhá dress as part of semiotic processes that negotiate relationships in context and the political, economic, and social stances that emerge in these processes. Dress, as an intimate art form, enables Puruhá producers and consumers to establish shared sartorial discourses and form semiotic communities. Moreover, the production and circulation of Puruhá dress enables Indigenous actors to reclaim the economic potential of their aesthetics, contributing to ongoing endeavors in economic autonomy and aesthetic sovereignty. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Abstract ................................................................................................................................v List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii List of Abbreviations ...........................................................................................................x Chapter 1: Introduction: Of Place, Positionality, and Purpose ............................................1 Chapter 2: Constructing Race and Ethnicity: Mapping the Dressed Body ........................29 Chapter 3: Negotiating the Cultural Commons: Puruhá Economic Strategies ................108 Chapter 4: Sartorial Semiotics and Discourse on Dress ..................................................174 Chapter 5: Ownership, Appropriation, and Aesthetic Property .......................................251 Chapter 6: Mujeres Luchadoras and Cultural Transmission ...........................................293 Chapter 7: Conclusion: (Re)designing the World ............................................................337 References ........................................................................................................................346 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Image from the Ethnographic Museum at the Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Carrión ...............................................................................................................................48 Figure 2.2 Image from the Museo Etnohistorico de Artesanias del Ecuador Mindalae ...48 Figure 3.1 Photo of the author using a computerized dress-up game at the Casa de la Cultura Benjamin Carrión ...............................................................................................111 Figure 3.2 Map showing political provinces of Ecuador (1) Esmeraldas, (2) Manabí, (3) Los Ríos, (4) Guayas, (5) Santa Elena, (6) El Oro (7) Carchi, (8) Imbabura, (9) Pichincha, (10) Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, (11) Cotopaxi, (12) Tungurahua, (13) Bolívar, (14) Chimborazo, (15) Cañar, (16) Azuay, (17) Loja. (18) Sucumbíos, (19) Napo, (20) Francisco de Orellana, (21) Pastaza, (22) Morona Santiago, (23) Zamora Chinchipe. “Insular” region: Galálapagos islands (From Brito Vera and Borges 2015). ..................119 Figure 3.3 Contemporary Otavaleño outfit worn by Malvi, October 2017 .....................138 Figure 3.4 Contemporary Puruhá outfit posted for VISPU: Elegancia con Identidad, on Facebook, January 2016...................................................................................................138 Figure 3.5 Example of hand sketched floral design for blouse embroidery ....................143 Figure 3.6 Example of hand sketched flower design for Sumak Churay .........................143 Figure 3.7 Example of Mestiza accessory designer piece, bracelet using cutting from an Indigenous faja (belt or hair wrap) ..................................................................................171 Figure 3.8 Promotional Image for Sumak Churay, design by Sisa Morocho, posted to Facebook page February 5, 2019. Model: Jisela Gualan Bagua, Photographer: Raul Illana ................................................................................................................................171 Figure 4.1 Example of the embroidered blouse, belt or faja and wrap skirt or anaco. From VISPU: Elegancia con Identidad store in Quito .............................................................183