Was It Something I Wore?: Dress, Identity, Materiality

Acknowledging how people often wear their causes on their t-shirts, this exploration studies the construction and performance of personal and social identities through choices of traditional attire. The essays point to the significance of dress as material culture in social science research—not only in their content but also in their focus on a variety of methodologies including memory work, visual studies, autoethnography, object biographies, and other forms of textual analysis. The title’s framing question is central to the many inquiries the book raises—inquiries that challenge the sociopolitical status quo: To what extent does dress visually signify the construction of a chosen identity and a chosen performance? How does dress position the body and identity in different social and cultural spaces? and What is the role of dress in the constructions of schooling and contemporary childhood? Investigating these questions and more, this colorful study addresses a variety of pertinent social issues that confront communities in southern Africa.