Cartographies of Clothing: On the Aesthetics and Practices of Property in Borderlands

Abstract

This article explores the symbolic and material role of clothing in shaping the aesthetics and practices of property among the Garos in the India-Bangladesh borderlands. It argues that clothing functions as a mediator of territorial claims, transcending the legal frameworks of national and customary orders to offer alternative understandings of land ownership and belonging. Through ethnographic and archival research, I examine how clothing, as a fungible object that circulates across national territories, reflects moralities, and kinship in relation to claims over borderlands. Garo relationships to land are shaped by their status as “scheduled tribes” in India, where they have recognized rights, and as ethnic minorities in Bangladesh, where such rights are absent. By showing how sartorial practices are deeply intertwined with borderland identities, moral economies, and religious networks, I offer a counternarrative to conventional notions of land ownership as national, customary and private properties. This article contributes to contemporary discussions on property, sovereignty, and borderlands in anthropology.