Your search for: clothing AND history

Shane White and Graham White consider the deeper significance of the ways in which African Americans have dressed, walked, danced, arranged their hair, and communicated in silent gestures. They ask what elaborate hair styles, bright colors, bandanas, long watch chains, and zoot suits, for example ...

Shane White and Graham White consider the deeper significance of the ways in which African Americans have dressed, walked, danced, arranged their hair, and communicated in silent gestures. They ask what elaborate hair styles, bright colors, bandanas, long watch chains, and zoot suits, for example, have really meant, and discuss style itself as an expression of deep-seated cultural imperatives. Their wide-ranging exploration of black style from its African origins to the 1940s reveals a culture that differed from that of the dominant racial group in ways that were often subtle and elusive. White and White argue that the politics of black style is, in fact, the politics of metaphor, always ambiguous because it is always indirect. To tease out these ambiguities, they examine extensive sources, including advertisements for runaway slaves, interviews recorded with surviving ex-slaves in the 1930s, autobiographies, travelers' accounts, photographs, paintings, prints, newspapers, and images drawn from popular culture, such as the stereotypes of Jim Crow and Zip Coon.

During the colonial period, Pacific Islanders acceptance of clothing was seen by Europeans as a civilizing sign. In reality, Islanders use of foreign cloth and clothing generally involved translating indigenous preoccupations into new forms of dress. Today, both imported and indigenous cloth feature ...

During the colonial period, Pacific Islanders acceptance of clothing was seen by Europeans as a civilizing sign. In reality, Islanders use of foreign cloth and clothing generally involved translating indigenous preoccupations into new forms of dress. Today, both imported and indigenous cloth feature prominently in Pacific Island exchange, religious practice, clothing, domestic space, public political activity, festivals, and the art and tourist markets. This book sets out to examine the multiple histories of cloth and clothing in the Pacific and to investigate its role in social innovation and resistance from the period of contact to the present day.The past three decades have witnessed the emergence of Pacific fashion stylists as well as cloth producers who, like anthropologists, are acutely aware of how globalization impacts on identity. Typically, their work integrates both Pacific and introduced forms. This book compares these synthetic forms with others that developed in the region during the colonial period, when foreign cloth was typically adapted and incorporated within indigenous textile systems, and shows how cloth is central to the transmission of identity as well as a vehicle for associative thinking. From an analysis of the place of cloth in traditional Tahitian religion, to fashion activism within the diaspora population in New Zealand, Clothing the Pacific provides fascinating insights into the shifting relationship between cloth and social imagination. By tracing the diverse responses to the imposition of dress upon Pacific Islanders, this book profoundly challenges Western assumptions about the place of cloth in culture.

Traditional Inuit attire has been used for protection, a sense of identity, and as culture-bearer for thousands of years. By preserving their clothing traditions, the Inuit celebrate their accomplishments, show pride in being a part of a unique culture, and affirm their lasting connection to the ...

Traditional Inuit attire has been used for protection, a sense of identity, and as culture-bearer for thousands of years. By preserving their clothing traditions, the Inuit celebrate their accomplishments, show pride in being a part of a unique culture, and affirm their lasting connection to the natural and spiritual worlds of their ancestors. Sinews of Survival draws together information about circumpolar clothing technologies, styles, and materials from 4000 years ago to the present. In this unique and beautifully illustrated book, Betty Kobayashi Issenman explores the living legacy of Inuit garment use and manufacture.

Sinews of Survival summarizes prehistoric finds related to clothing, describes the materials used, their characteristics, and the different items of clothing which are common throughout the circumpolar world. The tools are described at length as well as ingenious ways in which the Inuit prepared the material they harvested from animals, birds, and sea mammals. The text is accompanied by patterns and illustrations of seams and stitches which serve to highlight differences in style from one region to another and help identify historical clothing of different Inuit groups.

The author weaves together Inuit voices, drawings, and writings, giving a glimpse of a rich and layered culture which has survived some of the harshest living conditions in the world while abiding in ecological and spiritual harmony with its environment. While the focus is on the Canadian heritage, ample references to and images of Inuit clothing from Northeastern Siberia, Alaska, and Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) help readers appreciate commonalities and differences. Written in accessible languagewith numerous photographs, Sinews of Survival is an important resource for Arctic scholars, anthropologists, and archaeologists, and for the general public it opens a door to Inuit culture.