Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>In 2006, <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">P</jats:styled-content>eru's government awarded an intellectual property (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IP</jats:styled-content>) title known as a denomination of origin to the traditional ceramics made by artisans in the northern town of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>hulucanas. The move was celebrated by the state as a culturally sensitive strategy for regional development that promised to preserve cultural tradition and heritage and to provide a model for future economic development strategies among other native populations across the country. This study explores the means by which rural and native communities – once framed as economically marginal actors and potential liabilities for the nation‐state – are selectively transformed into new agents of cultural innovation under contemporary <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IP</jats:styled-content>‐based development plans. Based on interviews with participants and planners of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>hulucanas' <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IP</jats:styled-content>‐based development initiative, this research highlights how local accounts question the state's claims to use <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">IP</jats:styled-content> to pursue a national “export culture” and promote rural producers' global “competitivity” while simultaneously protecting local, collectively held production techniques.</jats:p>