ANTH 570F - Consumption & Fashion

Credits: Variable

The study of fashion mainly focuses on the analysis of dress and clothing, however the social and cultural phenomena of fashion could be more broadly analyzed as change affecting various spheres of life such as leisure, life choices, language use, and aesthetic activities (e.g. music, architecture, house decoration, food production and consumption). This course will explore the meanings of fashion and its linkage with modernity. It will focus both on the production and consumption of fashion. Until recently, the topics of fashion and consumption were academically devalued. We will examine the reasons for such devaluation, particularly its associations with gender. The course will focus on topics as diverse as: identity, distinction, style, the body, the self, manufacturing and branding, space, materiality, morality, uncertainty and anxiety. Special attention will be paid to the way fashion intersects with class, gender and sexuality, ethnicity and race. Format: lecture and discussion.