Producer unknown to us
Hard hat for occupational safety
Americas, Mexico, Tabasco, Ciudad Pemex
Mid-20th century
Synthetic materials, plastic, synthetic leather
Werner and Vera Hartwig (Ethnologists) acquired this hard hat during a teaching and research trip to Mexico 1975–77
Donated to the museum by Werner Hartwig in 1977
MAm 7841
This hard hat was part of the work uniform of the state-owned petroleum company PEMEX, which built the city of Ciudad Pemex in the Mexican state of Tabasco. According to the collector, in addition to being a means of occupational safety and part of the work uniform, these hard hats also became status symbols among the Indigenous population as they identified “the holder of a lifelong job.”
Werner and Vera Hartwig collected this piece during their research trip to Mexico 1975–77. One of the focal points of their trip was to study the living and social conditions and the cultural transition of Indigenous groups in Mexico. This idea was in line with the Marxist disciplinary interest of GDR ethnology, but especially with the research outline in Leipzig, which focused on the development of hierarchies and class societies in world history and on economic and social issues in history and ethnology.
Werner Hartwig’s 1978 exhibition “Erdöl und Indianer in Mexico” (Petroleum and Indians in Mexico), specifically addressed the impact of the government’s minority policies’ and economic development “on the traditional way of life and culture” of Indigenous groups such as the Chontal, Nahuas, and Zapotecs.
Frank Usbeck