CHECK IT OUT - Video Description!
You get dressed every day, but how often do you stop to consider questions such as the following?
- Why is clothing always in the news?
- Throughout history, why have laws been passed to regulate who can wear particular kinds of fabrics and clothes? And how do these laws reflect prevailing ideas about race, gender, sexuality, class, embodiment, religion, and nationality?
- Why do clothes designated for women have fewer pockets than clothes designated for men?
- Why have garments such as hoodies, corsets, zoot suits, overalls, and veils played central roles in movements for social justice and political independence?
- How did enslaved Americans resist the dehumanization of slavery through resourceful practices of making and wearing their own clothes?
- How does the history of prison uniforms—including the resurgence of stripes—reflect shifting attitudes about prisoners and punishment?
- With clothing, what is the difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation of clothing?
- Why are jeans and athletic clothes disastrous for the environment?
- How are writers, designers, engineers, and consumers trying to counter the inhumane labor practices and environmental devastation associated with “fast fashion”?
- In what ways is clothing a language, a carrier of memories, and a means of connecting with others, living and deceased?
- How does what we wear shape our sense of self, our interactions, and even how we think?
Major assignments for this course will include reading, writing a personal essay about your relationship to clothing, and creating a small group podcast about a clothing trend or issue. So, put on your favorite outfit and get ready to think, read, write, and collaborate!