XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Decolonial Fashion Ethnography: Before Yesterday Method

• In Event: Tramando Sensibilidades Têxteis: Brasil-África I

Abstract

In 2018, I conducted a multi-sided exploratory ethnographic fieldwork research in Luanda, Angola, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Los Angeles, California, United States. I decided to pursue multi-sided fieldwork research to trace costume design as a thing. The path taken to identify the costume designs' marks and exchanges was not linear. The fieldwork revealed what I was not waiting for. Upon my arrival from the fieldwork research, the premises and the information collected from the activity in loco were repositioned. I gradually connected knots and lines and realized the importance of engaging in the urgency to forward the notion of conducting fashion fieldwork research in light of the decolonial perspective through anthropological lenses. Therefore, I propose experimental and creative efforts to decolonize theories, methods, practices, and politics of media and fashion convergence – the decolonial fashion ethnography: before yesterday method, based on the bio-documentary “Antes de Ontem” (2019) by Caio Franco to examine how coloniality of dress manages white gaze and cultural racism.

Author

• Michelle "Mi" Medrado, Universidade Federal da Bahia - UFBA