Sartorial denotative logistics: Fashion and Power in the Cuban 1960s

• In Event: 038 - Theory Section Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 08. Production of Cultural Objects

Abstract

This paper discusses the uses of fashion as a mechanism of domination and political legitimacy, focusing on Soviet-type state socialist regimes. It documents, in particular, some dynamics shaping the politics of fashion in the socio-political context of 1960s Cuba. It argues that the consolidation of a new, radical political order in Cuba was partially based on the production of denotative logistics that associated clothes with specific political values. The paper concludes that denotative logistics constitute a mechanism of impersonal rule, effective in periods of political transition or regime change. In the case of Cuba, this mechanism was part of a process of social engineering oriented toward producing a new society and a new social subjectivity.

Author

• Maria A. Cabrera Arus