(Ex-)Changing ‘Indian Wear’: The Influence of International Migration on the Consumption of Clothing in Guyanese Hindu Traditions
Since the early 1990s the availability of “Indian Wear” has considerably increased in rural Guyana. To a large extent this development can be related to the financial, but also material support provided by Guyanese migrants in North America. “Indian Wear” is regularly given or sent to relatives, friends and the religious community in Guyana, either within the network of the extended family or within the framework of religious organizations. It is largely consumed during Hindu religious functions as ritual clothing, as an offering to a deity or as altar decoration. Its continuous exchange and the changing patterns of its consumption have led to social and ritual transformation within the different Hindu traditions.
Therefore, the PhD project examines the transformation of Guyanese Hindu traditions in the context of Guyanese migration to North America. It considers to what extent this transformation is linked to and influenced by transnational exchange and consumption processes. It focuses on material objects which are exchanged between Guyanese Hindus in North America and Guyana, particularly the exchange and consumption patterns of “Indian” clothing. It is based on a multi-sited ethnography conducted in Berbice, Guyana, and New York City, USA.
Zur Person
Sinah Kloß
Transcultural Studies
Universität Heidelberg
Marstallstr. 6
69117 Heidelberg
Telefon (0049) 6221/54 7858
Fax: (0049) 6221/54 7862
Lebenslauf
Seit November 2010
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin und Doktorandin in der Transcultural Studies-Nachwuchsgruppe „Karibik-Nordamerika und zurück“ an der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Oktober 2011 – Februar 2012
Gastwissenschaftlerin in der School of Education and Humanities, Department of Language and Cultural Studies, University of Guyana
Oktober – Dezember 2012
DAAD-Kurzstipendium für Feldforschung in Guyana
Mai 2010
Magistra Artium an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Magisterarbeit: Internationale Migration und Transnationalismus der indo-trinidadischen Bevölkerung in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart
September 2007 – August 2009
Studentische Hilfskraft/Tutorin am Seminar für Indologie und Tibetologie der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Oktober 2006 – Februar 2007
Studentische Hilfskraft am Geographischen Institut der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Oktober 2005 – April 2010
Studium der Anthropogeographie, Indologie und Ethnologie an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
