Ethnic Dress in the United States
A Cultural Encyclopedia
Foreword by Joanne B. Eicher Contributions by Linda Arthur Bradley, Naomi Braithwaite, Steeve O. Buckridge, Laura L. Camerlengo, Carol Ann Colburn, Vishna Collins, Jennifer Craik, Jamie R. Cupit, Jennifer Daley, Tameka N. Ellington, Sandra Lee Evenson, Marie-Claire Eylott, Irene M. Foster, Arianna E. Funk, Blaire O. Gagnon, Adam Geczy, Karen J. Gilmer, Priscilla N. Gitimu, Rebecca W. Greer, Gowri Betrabet Gulwadi, Silke Hagen-Jurkowitsch, Laura McLaws Helms, Ellen Hlozan, Rogelia Lily Ibarra, Rebecca Nelson Jacobs, Tracy Jenkins, Michelle Jones, Helen Koo, Abby Lillethun, Luanne Mayorga, Ellen C. McKinney, Marcella Milio, Aprina Murwanti, Susan Neill, Virginia M. Noon, Anupama Pasricha, Victoria Pass, Juliette Peers, Lauren Downing Peters, Irina Zhoukova Petrova, Harini Ramaswamy, Helen Ritchie, Jennifer Rothrock, Mary Ruppert-Stroescu, Jessica Schwartz, Erica Suzanne Scott, Wendy Rosie Scott, Sabrina Skerston, Toby Slade, Celia Stall-Meadows, Susan M. Strawn, Jessica StrĂ¼bel, Caitlin Tracey-Miller, Jennifer Van Haaften, Laura Van Waardhuizen, Rebecca Vang, Joan Webster-Vore, Linda Welters, Juanjuan Wu, Cassidy Zachary Edited by Annette Lynch, Mitchell D. Strauss

Not available to order
Publication date:
30 October 2014Length of book:
336 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9780759121508
The clothes we wear tell stories about us—and are often imbued with cultural meanings specific to our ethnic heritage. This concise A-to-Z encyclopedia explores 150 different and distinct items of ethnic dress, their history, and their cultural significance within the United States.
The clothing artifacts documented here have been or are now regularly worn by Americans as everyday clothing, fashion, ethnic or religious identifiers, or style statements. They embody the cultural history of the United States and its peoples, from Native Americans, white Anglo colonists, and forcibly relocated black slaves to the influx of immigrants from around the world. Entries consider how dress items may serve as symbolic linkages to home country and family or worn as visible forms of opposition to dominant cultural norms. Taken together, they offer insight into the ethnic-based core ideologies, myths, and cultural codes that have played a role in the formation and continued story of the United States.
The clothing artifacts documented here have been or are now regularly worn by Americans as everyday clothing, fashion, ethnic or religious identifiers, or style statements. They embody the cultural history of the United States and its peoples, from Native Americans, white Anglo colonists, and forcibly relocated black slaves to the influx of immigrants from around the world. Entries consider how dress items may serve as symbolic linkages to home country and family or worn as visible forms of opposition to dominant cultural norms. Taken together, they offer insight into the ethnic-based core ideologies, myths, and cultural codes that have played a role in the formation and continued story of the United States.
The information is highly engaging and challenges the beliefs Americans may hold about their own culture. . . .Ethnic Dress in the USA is written for a general audience making it appropriate for public libraries, secondary schools and community college libraries, as well as colleges and universities with programmes in textiles, culture and history.