The 2018-2019 Tulane Anthropology Student Association's colloquium series An Exploration of Power Through Practice, will continue on Friday, November 30, 3:30 PM. Join us in welcoming Dr. Walter E. Little who will present his research in a talk titled Maya Clothing Consumption and the Problem of Handmade.

Dr. Little is a professor at the University of Albany. His research focuses on the socio-economic and political lives of Latin Americans, primarily indigenous peoples. His multi-sited ethnographic research in Guatemala and Mexico combines political economy and symbolic/interpretive perspectives in order to better understand the politics of identity, international aid and economic development, heritage and tourism in urban places, and handicrafts and marketplaces. In this talk, Dr. Little will explore the contradictory consumption practice of Guatemalan Mayas via ethnographic research in Kaqchikel and K’ichee’ speaking towns to address critiques of what constitutes ‘handmade’ clothing. The new production techniques and shifting economic conditions that challenge notions of what is handmade have resulted in debates that challenge gendered and cultural identity positions.

The colloquium is free and open to the public.

The Tulane Anthropology Student Association is the graduate student organization whose year-long representatives serve as liaisons between the anthropology faculty and student populations. TASA representatives also organize the colloquium series. Colloquia are held in the first floor of Dinwiddie Hall and provide a venue for upper level graduate students, faculty members and outside scholars to present and discuss their anthropologically-themed research. TASA representatives also attend Graduate School Student Association (GSSA) as well as Graduate and Professional School Association (GAPSA) meetings and participate in the decisions made by these overarching Tulane graduate student organizations.