From Islam to Confucianism to Voodoo, dress plays a pivotal role in religious expression. In some of these cultures, dress is part of a system of social control. Gender issues feature prominently since the control of female sexuality is often of great importance to the world's religions. Members of each ethno-religious group actively construct their own lives, and use dress symbolically. A central tenet for many of these groups is that the soul is visually manifested on the body through dress.
Essays draw on ethnographic case studies and present wide-ranging interdisciplinary perspectives.