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Second-hand clothing encounters in Zambia: global discourses, Western commodities, and local histories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Karen Tranberg Hansen
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Résumé

Le développement rapide des exportations de vêtements d'occasion de l'Occident vers les pays du Tiers-Monde et la hausse de la consommation de vêtements d'occasion dans les pays africains soulevent des questions pertinentes sur les effets de la mondialisation et les significations de l'Occident et du local que les consommateurs attribuent aux objets à différents points de leur parcours dans l'espace mondial. Cet article s'appuie sur des travaux de recherche approfondis sur la provenance des vêtements d'occasion en Occident ainsi que sur leur commerce en gros et au détail, leur distribution et leur consommation en Zambie. Analysant Fattitude de la population zambienne à l'égard des vêtements dont l'Occident ne veut plus, cet article suggère qu'une économie culturelle intervient dans les appropriations locales de cette marchandise particulière qui ouvre un espace au commerce local de vêtements. Les vêtements influent beaucoup sur l'imaginaire car le moi et la société s'expriment à travers le corps vêtu. En toile de fond, l'article dresse brièvement un profil des récentes tendances du commerce mondial des vêtements d'occasion qui placent les pays africains sub-sahariens en tête des régions importatrices au niveau mondial. Il s'ensuit une analyse des préoccupations de la population zambienne concernant les vêtements neufs et les vêtements d'occasion, tant sur le plan historique que sur le plan actuel. Cette analyse démontre que les significations qu'attribuent les consommateurs zambiens aux vêtements d'occasion ne sont ni uniformes ni statiques mais qu'elles varient selon la classe sociale et le sexe, et entre les zones urbaines et rurales. Surtout, elles dépendent de la politique culturelle du moment. A travers les vêtements, les Zambiens donnent un sens à la société postcoloniale, à leur place dans cette société et dans le monde en général.

Type
Cast-off economics: Africa and the West
Information
Africa , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , July 1999 , pp. 343 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1999

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