Cultural appropriation in fashion: Critiquing the dispossession of Mayan culture in Guatemala

What is it about?

The following article aims to discuss the connections that exist between cultural appropriation and the fashion industry. Through our work, we want to broaden the theoretical understanding of 'cultural appropriation as an extractivist practice embedded in post-colonialist power relations. In order to do so, we look in this article at the National Weavers Movement in Guatemala, which has devised different strategies to protect Mayan textiles from economic and symbolic exploitation by the creative and tourist industries. This movement, and many others, have resisted extractivist practices for centuries, and their struggle has the purpose of stopping the commodification of their tangible and intangible cultures. Finally, the article emphasizes the importance of having an open dialogue within the fashion industry to engage and listen to these movements' demands.

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