Costume

Pravina Shukla

Description

What does it mean to people around the world to put on costumes to celebrate their heritage, reenact historic events, assume a role on stage, or participate in Halloween or Carnival? Self-consciously set apart from everyday dress, costume marks the divide between ordinary and extraordinary settings and enables the wearer to project a different self or special identity. Pravina Shukla offers richly detailed case studies from the United States, Brazil, and Sweden to show how individuals use costumes for social communication and to express facets of their personalities.

Acknowledgments
1. Dressing-Up: Special Clothing for Extraordinary Contexts
2. Festive Spirit: Carnival Costume in Brazil
3. Heritage: Folk Costume in Sweden
4. Play: The Society for Creative Anachronism
5. Reenactment: Reliving the American Civil War
6. Living History: Colonial Williamsburg
7. Art: Costume and Collaboration on the Theatre Stage
8. Artistic Communication: Costume as Elective Identity
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Folclore
• Sweden
• Anthropology
• Suède
• Brazil
• Social
• Folklore
• Culture

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 06 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• EAN13: 9780253015815
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

COSTUME
COSTUME
PERFORMING IDENTITIES THROUGH DRESS

Photographs by Pravina Shukla and Henry Glassie
PRAVINA SHUKLA
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2015 by Pravina Shukla
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in China
Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-253-01577-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-01581-5 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 20 19 18 17 16 15
For Henry, with love
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Special Clothing for Extraordinary Contexts
1 FESTIVE SPIRIT
Carnival Costume in Brazil
2 HERITAGE
Folk Costume in Sweden
3 PLAY
The Society for Creative Anachronism
4 REENACTMENT
Reliving the American Civil War
5 LIVING HISTORY
Colonial Williamsburg
6 ART
Costume and Collaboration on the Theater Stage
CONCLUSION
Costume as Elective Identity
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
MY AIM IN WRITING THIS BOOK WAS TO UNDERSTAND HOW COSTUME enables individuals to perform identities that are not expressed through daily dress. As a folklorist, I conducted case studies using ethnographic methods to show how costume functions to express identity in contexts full of intention and meaning. During this project, which began in 2007, I have accumulated debts to many individuals who have taught me about the significance of costume.
My first debt is to the people who furthered my intellectual pursuit by providing me with hours of recorded interviews and allowing me to observe, photograph, and understand costumes in use, both abroad and here in the United States. Two people in particular gave me much support and encouragement at the project s beginning-Ellen Adair and Kersti Jobs-Bj rkl f. Both Ellen and Kersti spent many hours talking to me about the nuanced ways in which costume functions: Ellen on how costumes communicate on the professional theater stage and Kersti on how folk costumes express identity and heritage in contemporary Sweden. Ellen and Kersti not only shared their expertise with me; they also led me to other people to interview.
Though I grew up in S o Paulo, Brazil, the carnival costumes of Bahia were a new topic for me. I was excited to learn about Salvador s blocos Afro and afox s . In Olodum I thank Jo o Jorge Santos Rodrigues, Tita Lopes, and Alberto Pita. In Il Aiy I thank Ant nio Carlos dos Santos Vov . I am especially grateful to my friends in Filhos de Gandhy: Professor Agnaldo Silva, Ildo Sousa, and Francisco Santos. For over fifteen years of friendship in Salvador, I thank F tima Miranda. I am also grateful to my colleagues Henry Drewal and Eduardo Brond zio, and especially to Steve Selka who read an early draft of the Brazil chapter.
I thank Kersti Jobs-Bj rkl f and Kerstin Sinha for reading a draft of the Sweden chapter carefully, for suggesting many useful changes, and for translating original texts into English for me. In Sweden I thank Kersti and Sune Bj rkl f for providing me a place to stay in Dalarna; Sune unfortunately passed away before this book went to press. In Leksand I am also grateful to Britta and Sven Roos; to Ulla Bj rkl f, her mother Karin G rdsback, and her two aunts, Britta Matsson and Anna Halvares; to Ingrid Samuelsson at the Leksand Handcraft shop; to Katarina Karlsson Nordqvist at the S tergl ntan College of Handcrafts; to Eva Erkers in Floda. In Stockholm I acknowledge the help of Mats Widbom, Barbro Klein, Lizette Gr den, and Ulrich Lange.
My gratitude extends to many people in the United States who were generous with their time, helping me see the link between costume and history in the three chapters on reenactment. I thank Sarah Lash, P. J. Schultz, Jarett Diamond, Carolyn Jenkinson, and Aimee Formo of the Society for Creativity Anachronism. Among Civil War reenactors I thank the following living historians: Wayne Brunson, Mark LaPointe, Jay Vogel, Frank Orlando, Mike Sipes, Jim Opdenaker, Niles Clark, and Dwight Hensley. At Colonial Williamsburg I thank the scholars and interpreters who shared information with me: Brenda Rosseau, Linda Baumgarten, Janea Whitacre, Sarah Woodyard, Mark Schneider, James Ingram, and Terry Thon. I am especially indebted to Mark Hutter, talented tailor, scholar, colleague, and friend.
Many busy theater professionals took time to meet with me, providing me with great insight into their artistic endeavors. I thank the following playwrights, directors, costume designers, and actors for their thoughtful knowledge about theatrical costume: Rafael Jaen, Lewis Wheeler, Eric Gilde, Molly Trainer, Spiro Veloudos, Vincent Woods, and Charles Morey. I single out, once again, Ellen Adair, for her tremendous help and for reading a draft of the theater and concluding chapters.
My gratitude extends to my teachers and mentors at Berkeley and UCLA. I remember the late Alan Dundes and continue to be grateful to Michael Owen Jones, Doran Ross, David Mayo, Fran Krystock, Owen Moore, Donald Cosentino, and Robert Georges. I am sustained in intellectual camaraderie by fellow folklorists John Burrison, Ray Cashman, Lorraine Walsh Cashman, Michael Foster, Diane Goldstein, Jason Jackson, Tim Lloyd, John McDowell, Tom Mould, Jerry Pocius, and Terry Zug. For help with this book, I also thank John Cash, Harry Glassie, Gregory Hansen, and Rich Walter. My interest in the serious study of dress has been fueled by my colleagues in the Costume Society of America, especially Cristina Bates, Anne Bissonnette, Robin Campbell, Cynthia Cooper, Sally Helvenston Gray, Mark Hutter, Susan Neill, and Sarah Woodyard. I am grateful to Linda Welters for reading a draft of this book, and for providing me with many useful comments and suggestions. The idea for this book arose during an early conversation with Joanne Eicher, and I thank Joanne for all she has done to champion the study of dress.
For financial support of my fieldwork in Brazil and across the United States, I acknowledge the following sources: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History Robert C. Altman Memorial Award, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History Arnold Rubin Memorial Award, Los Angeles Bead Society, Indiana University College Arts and Humanities Institute, and Indiana University Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
I am, of course, indebted to the able staff at the Indiana University Press for their help throughout the long process of publication, especially to Janet Rabinowitch, Rebecca Tolen, Bernadette Zoss, Dan Pyle, and to Jill R. Hughes for her copyediting. I especially thank Darja Malcolm-Clarke for her help, and Jennifer L. Witzke for her beautiful design.
I end my list of debt by acknowledging my family, the people I have loved the longest; I owe them my complete devotion. My mother, Neeru Shukla, to whom I dedicated my first book, continues to be a source of strength for me. My sisters, Divya and Bobby, have supported every endeavor I have embarked on, and being with them in California continues to be a highlight in my life. With happiness I celebrate the growth of our small family unit, welcoming its new members: Paul, Arjun, Layla, Chris, and little Mina, the newest member of our family.
My greatest debt is to my husband, Henry Glassie, to whom I dedicate this book. A fellow folklorist, Henry inspires me in our shared effort to understand the world through its artistic excellence. Henry accompanied me on every one of this book s fieldtrips, taking many of the photographs published here, and he read the manuscript carefully. Henry s book The Potter s Art -an examination of cultural phenomena through distinct ethnographic case studies-provided a model for my book. For his unconditional support and affection-and for filling my days with joy-I dedicate this book to Henry with all of my love.
COSTUME
INTRODUCTION
Special Clothing for Extraordinary Contexts
I T IS THE THIRD OF JULY, AND TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE gathered on a farm just outside of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A young couple walks by, wearing matching T-shirts: his says Civil War Nut s Husband ; hers reads Civil War Nut s Wife. A man in baggy khaki shorts has a T-shirt that reads Fort Bragg FIRE Emergency Services ; his companion sports a baseball cap that says U.S. Army. A little boy is dressed as a Union soldier, in blue pants and shirt, a kepi on his head, with a yellow cavalry sash tied at his waist, proudly carrying a toy infantryman s rifle. On Sutler s Row, at the photography studio, a young man poses in a wool Union uniform, indistinguishable from a real one except that it is open in back and fastened with long ties. At the Activities Tent a camera crew awaits, every man clad in shorts, sunglasses, bandanas on their heads, with large laminated Press badges dangling from their vests. Outside the tent stands an elegant bearded man in an impeccably tailored, pale gray uniform. He has come from upstate New York to address the crowd in the role of General Robert E. Lee. All of these people express their identities by what they w