Anthropology of Clothing and Fashion Ritual Practice and the Symbolism of Dress ANTHRO 3373 Dr. Kedron Thomas !How do anthropologists study dress?Interpretive ethnography Participant-observation Long-term fieldwork Holistic assessment Attention to meaningSymbolic Interactionism Popular among American sociologists who incorporated ethnographic methods into their research design. G.H. Mead Herbert Blumer Erving Goffman Howard Becker Harold GarfinkelPeople related to the object world based on the meaning those objects have for them. Meanings are derived from social interaction and modified through interpretation.Humans differentiate themselves using visual media. Sign Signified SignifierHumans differentiate themselves using visual media. Married women’s dress Mature Black, short womanhood, etc. blouse, etc.“People in their daily lives respond to cultural symbols rather than to objective reality.” (Cohen, 1974)Cultural analysis is “not an experimental science in search of law, but an interpretive one in search of meaning.” Culture is a “context, something through which [events, behaviors, institutions, or processes] can be intelligibly – that is, thickly – described.” - Clifford Geertz“Karen’s women’s role as ‘married’ or ‘unmarried’ is critically important to the functioning of all social organization that comprises Karenness.”“Their dress is a nearly perfect mirror of this importance.”Marriage is the natural state of an adult person. If a woman is not married, she will be treated as a child. Adult female = Married female “The clothing and the amount of jewelry and decoration worn provide easily recognizable cues as to how a Karen female should be treated.”The Business SuitThe Business Suit “Every change in a significant life situation … requires a change of wardrobe.” (Stone and Form, 1957)Totemic Emblem The outward and visible form of moral authority of the community.Karen Marriage Ritual The woman is transformed by the dress. Rites de passage 1) Separation 2) Liminal Phase 3) Reincorporation “Things, material artifacts, have a powerful influence on the socialization of individuals and in the continuance of a cultural system.”“Married women’s dress is critical for the culturally appropriate psychological state of a woman, for the continuity of the matrilineal tradition of cultural transmission, and for our understanding of much of the cultural system.” “Karen dress encourages one’s individual psychological adaptation to one’s own cultural system by punctuating ritual that signals changes in behavior and status along with attendant responsibilities and expectations.”The Business Suit The business suit communicates: credibility competence achievement professionalism conformity sensibility drabnessKaren’s Women’s Dress: Karen’s women’s dress communicates: Attention to family Responsibility for child rearing Ethnic distinctness Being a “proper” Karen woman … and is a reminder of one’s role, obligation, status, and privilege.Uniforms and UniformityBusiness