Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America - by Marie W Dallam & Benjamin E Zeller (Paperback)

About the Book

This book convenes leading scholars to explore the roles of attire and adornment in the creation and communication of religious meaning, identity, and community. Contributors investigate aspects of religious dress in North America in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries.

Book Synopsis

Clothing, dress, and ornamentation are crucial parts of individual and communal religious life and practice, yet they are too often overlooked. This book convenes leading scholars to explore the roles of attire and adornment in the creation and communication of religious meaning, identity, and community. Contributors investigate aspects of religious dress in North America in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, considering adornment practices in a wide range of religious traditions and among individuals who straddle religious boundaries. The collection is organized around four frameworks for understanding the material culture of religion: theological interpretation, identity formation, negotiation of tradition, and activism.

Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America features essays on topics such as Black Israelites' use of African fabrics, Christian religious tattoos, Wiccan ritual nudity, Amish "plain dress," Mormon sacred garments, Hare Krishna robes, and the Church of Body Modification. Spanning the diversity of religious practice and expression, this book is suitable for a range of undergraduate courses and offers new insights for scholars in many disciplines.

Review Quotes

An important benchmark in religious dress research developments.-- "Nova Religio"

Religion, Attire, and Adornment in North America addresses the relationship between religion and dress in America and the ways that religious practitioners make meaning through their sartorial choices. Its chapters are accessibly written and their breadth is impressive; scholars of American religions, new religious movements, gender studies, and material culture will appreciate this volume.--Nora L. Rubel, author of Doubting the Devout: The Ultra-Orthodox in the Jewish American Imagination

In lucid prose, the editors of this handsome volume usher readers into the worlds of religion, attire, and adornment. Beautifully curated, the collection shows us how bodily presentation matters. Contributors explain what the language of sacred garb tells us about how religion is worn; what these vestments mean for those who wear, touch, view, or simply imagine them. This is a book that speaks to glamour and plainness, sartorial splendor and fashionable modesty in so many of its North American guises. This is a book you will want to teach!--Laura Levitt, author of The Objects that Remain

This book is a glorious romp through the wardrobe of American religions, unraveling the ways in which the clothing and adornment are not mere sidenotes to the study of religious beliefs and practices but integral to understanding the diverse religious communities of North America.--Rachel B. Gross, John and Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies, San Francisco State University

About the Author

Marie W. Dallam is professor of religious studies at the Honors College of the University of Oklahoma. Her books include Cowboy Christians (2018).

Benjamin E. Zeller is professor and chair of religion at Lake Forest College. His books include Heaven's Gate: America's UFO Religion (2014).

Dallam and Zeller are among the coeditors of Religion, Food, and Eating in North America (Columbia, 2014).