Ethnic Dress Research Articles

Private Transgressions: The Visual Voice of Zulu Women

ulu society has always been largely patriarchal. Its women have been given minimal or marginal opportunity to air their views. Women have used visual and oral forms to express their feelings. Amongst other avenues of expression, dress is one means to communicate dissatisfaction with the social state of affairs. Within accepted cultural practice, it provides information about how women perceive themselves, each other, other people, as well as their role in society. The aim of this article is to explore how traditional dress in its cultural context is a means of expression and communication'. It draws on four years research and field work in the area I refer to as Camper-Ndwedwe, in KwaZulu-Natal, ie some areas of Ndwedwe and the Camperdown region. To a certain degree the discussion would be equally true of other areas in the region. The study was mostly qualitative and used questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observations. The questionnaire was administered non-formally and verbally to most participants, whilst with less than 10 women it was collected in the written form. There was a lot of discussion when questions were posed to informants as some could not read or write. Questions explored the informants' marital status, age and the perceived purpose of traditional dress and its use as a means of 'social protest'. The study had a total 58 informants. Ethnic dress and ethnicity are intertwined. Although ethnicity and ethnic groups seem to have clear reference, they are also complex and emotionally loaded terms (Barnes and Eicher, 1995). I use the term ethnic as denoting the cultural traditions of a group of people. Ethnicity is a cultural category that is recognisable in lifestyle, race, language and clothing choices. As a description of physical attributes ethnicity is often used as a means to categorise people. Like gender, ethnicity is socially constructed. One of the tasks of feminist theories is to challenge such social constructions as they relate to gender relations. The meanings of 'feminism', a term that is used to describe women's attempts to challenge patriarchy and gender inequality, also require clarification in the context of this discussion as it is considered taboo by many African women. It is alleged that feminism has no relevance to African culture and that it leads women away from their families and responsibilities. Women's forums conscientising women about their rp-

Learning to Lead from the Middle: An Apprenticeship in Diversity

Cultural difference is sometimes such a subtle thing that we can walk right by it without seeing it. It leaps out at us if it comes packaged in different coloured skin, ethnic dress or foreign speech cadences. Rural and urban values and lifestyles, the survival skills learned in economic disadvantage or a refugee camp, the challenges of raising a child with special needs, coming to terms with one's sexual orientation, or trying to sustain a livelihood in an emergent and little-known occupation might easily fall our definition of cultural difference -- yet many of the same principles of diversity and inclusion apply. Life's deepest learnings -- the lessons that really stick with us and become part of who we are -- seldom happen in a classroom. The more we open ourselves up to startling and unsettling discoveries that can occur anywhere, at any time, the more the journey becomes an adventure of the unknown, lived from the heart. Learning how to learn from one another across cultural boundaries calls for openness of spirit. Recognizing and moving beyond our own deeply rooted assumptions is a crucial first step -- willingly trying on someone else's perspective, and accepting that it is just as valid as our own. Our maps often prove unreliable and we may be called upon to rethink not only our route but also our very destination, making our way together through uncharted territory toward a shifting end point. But we will eventually find our way Chances are very good that some of the views along the route will be quite breathtaking. Creating a Climate of Safety Being listened to is something I've always taken for granted. In my early work with a subsidized housing community, I soon discovered that not everyone has been so fortunate. When such a simple thing has been withheld for so long, it becomes of monumental significance. The most powerful thing I could do for these people was incredibly basic: to listen to their stories, openly and wholeheartedly, without judging. For many of them, this was an entirely new experience. As they became more at ease with me, they poured out their hearts -- their hurts and frustrations, their hopes and dreams -- all of themselves. I was honoured and humbled by their trust and thunderstruck by the very different reality that I was seeing through their eyes. The certainty of unconditional caring has to come first. That's a huge commitment. When people have been deeply hurt, their trust, once earned, can never be treated lightly. Only on these terms can we create a safe place in which to be authentic -- with ourselves as well as with one another. Paradoxically, it is only when we feel safe that we are ready to take risks. Leading from the Middle The other prevailing concern was to ensure that these people remained in charge of whatever might occur between us -- nothing would be done against their wishes or without their agreement, and no one would attempt to exert control over them. If the community members sat on couches and chairs, I sat on the floor in order to stay below their eye-level and avoid any hint of dominance. I took special care to avoid jargon or unfamiliar idioms. If we recorded flip chart notes, we made a game of enlivening them with humourous little drawings. In this light-hearted and transparent way we melted literacy barriers. Those sheets of notes always stayed in the community, rather than leaving with me. We chose any outside experts with care, selecting people who were both committed and genuine, who valued and respected differently-acquired wisdom and who would be open to whatever they might learn along the way. All of these measures helped to reinforce that these people, themselves, owned the process -- and that it was one of outreach and inreach, a multidirectional flow of learning. I was there only to act as the midwife, if you will; this was their baby to which I was helping them give birth. …

Costume and identity in highland Ecuador

In most parts of highland Ecuador, people still identify themselves as indigenous and as belonging to a particular ethnic subgroup by the clothes and ornaments they wear. Although formerly the most distinctive costumes tended to occur among the more isolated and independent groups, today their use has more to do with the degree of political or ethnic consciousness felt by each group. Some people are even wearing ethnic dress as a political statement against forced assimilation. Costume and Identity in Highland Ecuador offers particular insight into the role of costume-clothing, jewelry, hairstyles, and bodily adornment-in a society changing from a subsistence economy to one based on wage income. In some highland regions costumes are still relatively conservative; in others, machine-made cloth has replaced handmade cloth or distinctive costumes are disappearing altogether. Here a number of textile experts focus their attention on the creation and use of the clothing itself, including loom styles and fabrics, but in addition they explore the historical forces that have helped shape indigenous costume and observe the mechanisms and motivations of change or stability throughout the highlands. Many of the 286 photographs of daily and fiesta dress were taken on location; some depict significant examples from the renowned collection of The Textile Museum. All attest to the visual stimulation of costume, and illustrate regional differences in fabrics and adornment and the manner in which clothing is worn. This work is the first detailed survey of Ecuadorian costume and will become a standard reference and a much-needed model for other areas of South America. Pulling together many and varied field studies, it spans more than twenty years and presents research in a useful, comparative format. It will be valuable to textile scholars, historians, and anthropologists, and will captivate all who enjoy colorful and distinctive dress.

Eurocentrism in the Study of Ethnic Dress

Eurocentrism in the Study of Ethnic Dress

Stoma anxieties: A comparison of the attitudes of Asian migrants and the indigenous population in the United Kingdom towards abdominal surgery and the role of intestinal stomas

We have studied stoma care nurses' experience with Asian patients having a stoma. The general public's attitudes to abdominal surgery in general were assessed in a survey of employees in Leicester. Many stoma care nurses are aware of the needs of Asian patients, especially with regards to ethnic dress, but only half of the ostomists who wanted to see a stoma care nurse or fellow ostomist were able to do so (chi 2 = 4.5, p less than 0.03). All ostomists considered counselling on education, employment and marriage inadequate. There is a high level of anxiety about stomas and these anxieties are surprisingly similar for all ethnic groups.

Ethnic Identity: Its Relationship to Ethnic and Contemporary Dress

An ethnic identity is reflected through intrinsic and extrinsic traits which also may be associated with other ethnic behaviors. This study investigated ethnic identity as it relates to traditional ethnic dress patterns, and use of ethnic reference persons and ethnic market sources as information on contemporary dress. A sample of 117 students identifying with one of seven ethnic heritages was analyzed as a pooled group with separate analyses for the Chinese and Japanese. Analyses included Spearman rho correlations and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results indicated a relationship between ethnic identity and ethnic dress usage. Individuals with higher ethnic identities used family, ethnics other than family, ethnic fashion magazines, and ethnic fashion shows as sources of information on dress; however, the relationship with ethnic identity and the use of these sources varied according to ethnic heritage.