The Habit Does Make the Monk: Jesuit Dress in the Marianas Mission 1668–1700

Abstract

Abstract This article explores some of the body modifications that occurred in the Mariana Islands during the initial decades of the Jesuit mission. It focuses on Jesuit vestments and the use of Indigenous CHamoru palm-weaving in a cultural background where the CHamoru dress code clashed with Jesuit mindsets. The article also analyzes the imposition of clothing on the CHamorus by the Jesuits and the imposition of nakedness on the Jesuits by the CHamorus as punitive measures within a colonial environment where the Jesuits sought to dismantle traditional lifeways while the CHamorus endeavored to preserve them.