Dress, gender and cultural change
Subtitle: Asian American and African American rites of passage
By: Annette Lynch.
Series: Dress, body, culture,
Publisher: Berg; Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 126
Subjects: Clothing and dress -- Social aspects -- United States.; Hmong Americans -- Clothing.; African Americans -- Clothing.; Hmong Americans -- Rites and ceremonies.; African Americans -- Rites and ceremonies.; Hmong Americans -- Social life and customs.; African Americans -- Social life and customs.
Description: Within the Hmong American community, mothers and aunts of teenagers use bangles, lace and traditional handwork techniques to create dazzling displays reflecting the gender and ethnicity of their sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, as they participate in an annual courtship ritual. This book examines these events to show how dress is used to transform gender construction and create positive images of African American and Hmong American youth. Coming-of-age rituals serve as arenas of cultural revision and change. For each of these communities, the choice of dress represents cultural affirmation. This author shows that within the homogenizing context of American society, dress serves as a site for the continual renegotiation of identity - gendered, ethnic and otherwise. -- Amazon.com.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-122) and index.