Dressing the Part: Producing Ethnic Minority Textiles in the Era of Intangible Cultural Heritage Tourism

Abstract

Visualizing difference is central to ethnic tourism and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) performance in Southwest China today. The expectation that individuals in ethnic minority communities will always be dressed and ready to meet romanticized expectations, while otherwise living their lives, creates new subjectivities and refashions how people think about and interact with their traditional material practices. ICH interventions may promise support for minority cultural reproduction but can instead disincentivize the intergenerational transmission of skilled knowledge. At the same time, individuals are experimenting with new forms of entrepreneurial heritage-making that meet community needs without official ICH endorsement, including the development of small-scale ethnic fashion industries. Based on fieldwork in Baiku Yao and Sanjiang Dong communities in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, this study highlights individuals engaged in the making, wearing, and marketing of minority dress on an expanding national stage.