DRAMATIC ART 475

African and Asian Costume History
Spring Semester 2009; T-TH 9:30-10:45
105 Center for Dramatic Art

Overview:

This course surveys traditional clothing forms worn in selected areas of the African Continent, in Asia (primarily Japan and China, with a brief consideration of India, Vietnam, and Korea) and on the Arabian peninsula. The course is primarily in lecture format and relies heavily on presenting visual information through slides. Students are expected to learn and understand the historical context by learning the visual connection between the garments worn and the societies and cultures in which they occur.

Texts: 

Required

• Patricia Rieff Anawalt: The Worldwide History of Dress

• Angela Fisher: Africa Adorned
• Norio Yamanaka: The Book of Kimono

Graded Assignments:

• Mid Term: 30% February 24, 2009
• Research paper: 30% , 2009, due March 26, 2009 by 4:00 PM
• Clipping File: 5% Thursday, April 23, 2009
• Final Exam: 35% Saturday, May 2, 2009 8-11 AM

Research Paper:

A 10 page paper (exclusive of illustrations) worth 30% of your grade is due on March 26, 2009. The choice for the specific topic is open but must be reviewed and approved by the instructor on or before February 10, 2009 – one half of a letter grade will be deducted from your paper if this deadline is not met . The paper topic is to be submitted in the form of a thesis statement, accompanied by a preliminary bibliography containing at least three sources. The paper is to be based on research as opposed to personal observation and must be properly formatted following MLA Style. The Internet is an increasingly popular source, but most of the material available about traditional clothing is on pages maintained as a hobby or as sites meant to attract tourists. You may not cite information obtained from an internet site for the research paper except for illustrations. Electronic databases and resources are acceptable such as those listed on the resource database prepared by Cindy Adams at Davis Library at UNC-Chapel Hill (Link: www.lib.unc.edu/subjectguides/costume/). (Note: new link inserted May 29, 2010).

The paper should focus on a specific aspect of clothing or adornment – in other words, the appearance of the peoples in one of the geographical areas or periods touched upon in class, perhaps of a people we consider or another group. Native Americans or any other people of North America or Europe are not acceptable and the emphasis must be on traditional forms. The paper must contain some original thought rather than be simply a summary of your research. Papers should not contain any generic information of the sort that begins “People in all cultures wear clothing” and contemporary jargon should be avoided as should first-person narratives.

1. The dress worn within a particular culture or tradition during a particular event, such as the Geerewol festival of the Wodaabe or the Eunoto of the Maasai.
2. The clothing of a particular African, Asian, or Arabian people in a particular time in history, such as the ao dai in Viet Nam, the shuka worn by the Maasai, the hanbok of Korea, or the sokutai of medieval Japan.
3. Materials, processes, or methods for creating or ornamenting particular garments such as indigo dyes, beading, silk production, bark cloth, batik, cowrie shells, etc.
4. A particular aspect of dress or ornament, such as headdresses, scarification, body painting, bound feet, lip and ear plugs, etc.

Successful papers will include a thorough definition of the garment or principle explored and an understanding of an historical period or cultural context. In other words, why is more important than what. The ideal audience for the paper will be reasonably bright fellow students with little background in the history of clothes. For all papers, photocopied illustrations will be a necessary part of the final product (and do not count as part of the text requirement of 10 pages.) It is my understanding that fair use means that photocopied and properly cited illustrations for classroom use are allowed under current copyright laws. This does not however mean that a commercial copy center will duplicate illustrations for you. Late papers will be penalized by losing one letter grade per day (every day) if submitted after 4:00 PM on the due date.

• the author's name (if known)
• the full title of the document in quotation marks
• the title of the complete work if applicable in italics
• the date of publicity or last revision (if available)
• the full http address (URL) enclosed within angle brackets
• the date of visit in parentheses  (The date of visit is included because internet sites change so frequently. It may be advisable to print a copy as documentation.)

Example: Kyoto National Museum. "Kyoto Gyoso: Recalling Great Treasures of Court Culture." Karaginu (Jacket) and Uwagi (Outer Robe) from Junihitoe (Twelve-Layered Court Costume) Set. nd. Copyright 2009. <http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/index_top.html> (7 January 2009)

Clipping file:

Personal appearance provides information about an individual in any culture and is one form of communication. These visual clues are used by the media, artists, and in commercials. During the semester keep your eyes open for examples of ethnicity in dress used in western culture (such as Barbie or Coca Cola ads using strip cloth) as well as the appearance of traditional forms in the news, such as Hamid Karzai wearing an astrakhan hat, women in chador in Iran, or Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Korean dress. Develop a clipping file (scrapbook) containing about 50 items divided into African, Asian, Arabian Peninsula-based forms, and miscellaneous. You may use articles, comic strips, advertisements, photographs, etc. from current newspapers, magazines, or other sources (like DVD covers or posters). You may not use National Geographic or similar periodicals, any clipping more than one year old, or anything Xeroxed from books (including the texts) although Xeroxes are acceptable. This project is not a library-based historical research one; rather it uses images available in the contemporary world. It is possible to successfully complete this project by reading little more than The Daily Tar Heel and Sports Illustrated. The clipping file is to be presented in an organized, coherent manner and you must annotate your illustrations with comments and sources (such as The Daily Tar Heel, March 1, 2009 or Rolling Stone Magazine, November 2008, etc.) Your comments should reveal your increasing understanding of the cultural factors present in costume forms. "This is a stupid garment" is not an appropriate comment. The grade for this assignment is based on the quality of the illustrations and whether the comments contain insights.
The clipping file is due on the last day of class, Thursday, April 23, 2009.

Course Schedule:

Revised: January 8, 2009