Enhancing our identity-deprived lives

Indeed, the only remaining vacant space in this specifically western moral conundrum is that occupied by the ubiquitous middleman, branded purveyor of those hard-to-find Kuba cloth skirts and batik headbands. But who cares about how difficult it is for Myer to bring “naturally” handcrafted panama hats to its loyal consumers this season?

The narrative of wholesalers’ sacrificial at-source achievements has swiftly become another product specific ideal for the conscience-driven western consumer, who have learned to pay almost anything for so-called fair traded goods brought into our lives by retailers claiming they really do care about sustainable coffee, craft and cosmetics. Perhaps it is not so much a question of why some of us adorn ourselves in tribally derived costume and jewellery but how?

Perhaps too, the assumptions I’m making about the acquisition of goods, equating with cultural authenticity achieved without undertaking the effort of the journey itself, are of less significance in today’s globalised market place. But as the global map steadily compresses, ancient symbolic handcrafted ornamentations of tribal existence are constantly being re-contextualised, except for the many who are still using them in life rituals.

For the Gujarati desert women carefully sewing several hundred embroidered skirt bands ordered by a western agent, the price of their labour is still much lower than a train ride from Sydney airport to the CBD. But it’s a price that will afford a new village hand pump, another month of outdoor schooling or an urgent visit to a doctor and they know it’s worth it. But do we?

Although the price disparity bothers many, in our own culture made up of many distinctive ethnic influences, we Australians paradoxically struggle and all too often fail at pronouncing foreign sounding names, let alone those of ancient tribal traditions, artifacts and activities. Do we deserve authenticity if we’re not prepared to enunciate its origins correctly? Has our exasperated, impatient, characteristically nationalistic demand for social homogenisation placed the realities of cultural authenticity beyond our ethical reach? Discuss!