Commodification of culture

           Throughout the years there have been drastic changes in the economy around the world. As we may have experienced, living expenses have gone up and people have been forced to adapt to this new condition. Now days, people have to sell traditional art or experiences like rituals in order to gain some kind of income. This new strategy is call commodification of culture. One example that we discussed in class is how the tribes in Panama sell their traditional art in order to survive in this new economy.

            As we discussed in class, the tribe in Panama called the Kuna Ayala tribe are the ones who have become very successful selling their traditional costumes. What they sell traditionally it is a part of their shirt or skirt, which is called molas. Over time, the mola has started to get very fashionable. Now, it is on tourist’s t-shirts and handbags around the world. To be honest, they are very pretty, but Panamanians don’t value national art instead they always prefer something that comes from the US. Even though, we don’t usually buy molas still it is very popular and it is the only thing that has made possible to the Kunas to subsist without having to give up on their culture.

            As the North American students were talking in class about visiting a tribe and how amazed they were about these people using their culture to gain profit, it immediately reminded me of commodification of culture. Now days, you can see molas in several souvenirs stores, in different department stores and so on. To me, it is very impressing how these tribes figured out how to make profit out of their traditions, to be honest it would never have occurred to me. If they wouldn’t have used their heritage to earn some profit, they wouldn’t exist right now. Instead, they would have been working for companies or corporations in order to subsist and their cultural knowledge would have disappeared.