Retheorising Creativity and Authenticity of Fashion in Kenya
A guest lecture by Tommy Tse, Associate Professor in the Global Cross-Media Cultures programme, University of Amsterdam (UvA) and IIAS Board member.
When Nairobi shopkeepers proudly declared his “original” Adidas sneakers fake—but “a good deal, even better than the real”—Tommy Tse began rethinking what authenticity means. Drawing on over two years of ethnography in Kenya and China, this talk explores how fashion’s fakes, originals, and copies co-create new meanings of creativity and value.
The Q&A is moderated by Dr Wei Wang (UvA) and PhD Researcher Fairuzah Atchulo (UvA).
You can join online or in person. Registration is required as seating is limited, and to receive the Zoom link.
The Lecture
How do fashion consumers in Kenya understand authenticity and creativity—and what happens when Western theories are tested against their everyday practices? Drawing on over two years of multi-sited ethnography in China and Kenya as part of my European Research Council project China Africa Fashion Power, this talk rethinks some of the most fundamental ideas in cultural and fashion studies.
Much of the scholarship on China–Africa relations focuses on trade, investment, and geopolitics. My team instead explores how China’s cultural, aesthetic, and affective presence in Africa takes shape through the textures, materialities, and meanings of fashion. Our research seeks to bridge the growing North–South theoretical divide by examining how notions such as authenticity, creativity, and sustainability are reinterpreted through local experiences of design, consumption, and everyday exchange.
In Nairobi’s vibrant markets—from Gikomba to Toi to Du Bois—fashion is not only traded but constantly remade. One afternoon, a team of sellers spent half an hour searching for a pair of “original” Adidas sneakers for me. Days later, when other traders gleefully pointed out that they were “not real, but a good deal—better than the original!”, I began to rethink the boundaries between fake and authentic, imitation and innovation. These encounters reveal a layered system of value where creativity is collective, relational, and deeply material—rooted in touch, smell, and the sensory life of garments.
Kenyan consumers, artisans, and resellers continually navigate these categories: sellers attach real logos to refined copies to claim “symbolic authenticity”; brokers pay premium rents for “spatial authenticity” in prime market stalls; and young consumers assemble “pocket-friendly” looks to kupiga luku—to dress to kill. For them, Nike and Gucci originals may remain aspirational, but Chinese-made imitations, vintage imports, and customised second-hand clothes are the raw materials of a new, socially grounded creativity.
Rather than dismissing fakes as deceit, this talk shows how fashion in Kenya and China challenges the Western–modern–romantic ideal of originality and individual genius. Here, authenticity is not an inherent property but an evolving negotiation among people, materials, and meanings. By tracing these processes ethnographically, my talk reveals how non-Western actors remake global fashion theory from the ground up—one outfit, one story, and one encounter at a time.
The Speaker
Dr Tommy Tse is Associate Professor in the Global Cross-Media Cultures programme, Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, and affiliated with the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), HKU Global China Social Research Hub, University of Pretoria, and Lingnan University. He specialises in East Asia’s media and cultural industries, creative and platform work, consumer culture, and the sociology of fashion. In 2022, he was awarded a €2 million European Research Council’s Consolidator Grant for his five-year project China (Africa) Fashion Power, a multi-sited ethnography on China–Africa fashion value chains. Educated at the University of Hong Kong (BA, MPhil, PhD), Tse previously taught at six universities across Hong Kong and the UK. His work appears in European Journal of Cultural Studies, New Media & Society, Journal of Consumer Culture, Sociology, and Journal of Cultural Economy. He serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Fashion Studies, International Journal of Cultural Studies, and Fashion, Style and Popular Culture.
Moderators
Dr Wei Wang, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam.
Fairuzah Atchulo, PhD Researcher, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam.
Registration (required)
You can join online or in person. Registration using the web form on this page is required to secure your seat or receive the Zoom link. Registration deadline: 12 November 2025 12:00u CET.