I. Overview of Bourdieu

A. Taste is social: 3 forms of capital
B. Habitus
C. Strengths of Bourdieu

1. Shows patterns of individual tastes, links with class
2. Consumption and status involve knowledge

D. Problems

1. Scheme too rigid: do all people in class possess the same tastes?
2. Too much specificity: group identities fade into individual preferences
3. Too little specificity: individual agency disappears
4. Risks focusing too much on classification, too little on decision-making

 

II. Two Views of Salaula

A. Can we apply Bourdieu's model to a context in which people can't afford things as readily?
B. T-Shirt Travels: salaula trade is symbol of Zambia's victimization by structural adjustment
C. Hansen: salaula is about taste

1. System of provision: from production to consumption
2. History of used clothing
3. Central argument: structural conditions make salaula an attractive option, but it is also an opportunity for people to express agency in making fashion choices

a. Cut a fine figure
b. Possibility of brighter future
d. Not wear rags
d. Not an assault of the foreign on Zambia
e. Not imitation of West, but local transformation and incorporation of Western styles

D. How can we make sense of these two perspectives and think about a cultural economy of taste and style?

 

III. Structural Adjustment

A. Policies imposed by creditors (World Bank, IMF) so that countries can repay debt
B. Stop protection of local industry, "liberalize" economy, cut government spending, promote "fair trade"
C. Developing economies tended to

1. Shield domestic industry from competition
2. Keep currency value high
3. Support social services

D. Adjustment measures include:

1. Cut government spending
2. Sell off state-owned industry
3. Develop exports to earn foreign currency to pay debts
4. Reduce tariffs on imports to encourage free trade and open local markets
5. Stop protecting local industry
6. Devalue currency to make products more attractive on world markets
7. Increase interest rates
8. Eliminate subsidies and price controls, such as those on basic necessities or industrial inputs

E. Effects

1. Inflation, it takes more local money to buy things than before
2. Reliance on key exports, crops or raw materials exposes economy to global volatility (copper in Zambia)
3. Industry can't afford foreign equipment

F. Salaula trade

1. Local garment industry is unable to compete globally with more efficient producers
2. Unable to compete locally with used clothing which, because it starts out free, is cheaper than other imports
3. Zambian manufacturers claim that Structural Adjustment and presence of salaula have destroyed them

G. Hansen's counter-argument

1. Garment industry has its own problems: poor quality, high prices, poor management
2. People's purchasing power has declined
3. Salaula and garment industry problems are both symptoms of poor economic situation
4. Explore niche manufacturing, but industry isn't yet export-ready
5. Salaula is popular because it solves two problems

a. Need for diverse array of clothing
b. Income for unemployed or underemployed

 

IV. History of Salaula

A. Encounter with West

1. Consumer markets
2. Modernity = personal identity space
3. Clothing part of barter system
4. Missionaries: notions of clothing and propriety

B. 1900s: colonial taxes prompt male labor migration

1. Men develop European dress styles
2. Women in villages not as Europeanized

C. Late colonialism: clothing as most convenient way to display status (class, ethnicity) that couldn't be expressed through other property
D. Hansen: clothing reflects disjuncture between African aspirations and actual possibilities
E. Secondhand trade between Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Belgian Congo: 1920s, WWII and after
F. Independence (1964): promote local textile industry, import substitution
G. Second Republic (1972-91): one party socialism, inflation, copper prices start to decline, scarcity of consumer goods
H. Mid-1980s: salaula begins filtering into Zambia, provides way for people to acquire sense of well-being
I. Clothing as part of "social skin" (Terence Turner) mediating between self and society
J. Salaula helps Zambians to imagine a future that postcolonial politics and economics haven't yet delivered

 

V. Salaula and Class

A. Everyone in Zambia buys salaula: diverse, attractive clothes at reasonable cost
B. Salaula = newness

1. From outside
2. Secondhand versus thirdhand

a. Come directly from outside
b. Not worn previously by Zambians
c. Bales opened publicly
d. Wrinkles preserved

C. Salaula Boutiques: stylishly combined outfits, more expensive
D. Salaula signals fluidity in Zambian social world, everyone can cut a fine figure
E. Apamwamba, "those on top" (Nyanja)

1. Class with effective choice in consumption
2. Trendsetters, challenge convention
3. Greater proportion of women earning income
4. Buy from tailors, boutiques, suitcase trade from outside, and salaula
5. Salaula as sport, not simply as sign of dispossession

F. Consumption as work: match needs with goods

1. Cultural competence about style
2. Social competence about information, sources
3. Economic competence about bargaining, price to satisfy needs with available resources

G. Salaula allows display of uniqueness

 

VI. Gender and Salaula

A. Constructs relations between men and women (social)
B. Symbolically conveys notions of proper masculinity or femininity (cultural)
C. Social: women can now buy clothing directly and get income from salaula trade
D. Symbolism of masculinity

1. Straight body line = manly
2. Draw attention to self through being unique as sign of masculine power

E. Symbolism of femininity

1. Fine figure: smooth lines, loose, cover private parts (thighs)
2. Chitenge (printed cloth) suits

a. Domestically produced in past, now imported from South or Southwest Asia
b. Traditional, yet modern pan-African nationalism
c. More expensive than salaula
d. Appropriate for older, larger women
e. Worn at kitchen parties

3. Public scrutiny of women's dress choices

a. Public censure of government ministers who wear short skirts (above the kneee), tight clothing
b. Provoke male desire, incite rape
c. Women's clothing choices constrained
d. Yet also self-expression

F. Women using their own money to make salaula purchases that challenge gender expectations, transform gender relations

 

VII. The Meanings of Salaula

A. Hansen's point: significance of salaula does not come from origins (T-Shirt Travels), but from ways it meets Zambians' clothing needs and desires
B. North/South inequity, but also agency
C. Old clothes become new, Zambians become modern (clothed) vs. premodern (rags)
D. Incorporate global into local ideas about status, gender, and individuality
E. Being poor and a consumer are not mutually exclusive (255)