This workshop explores how the nature and practice of dressing, whether in conformity to cultural conventions or transgressing them, may be read as a map of a country's cultural, social, and political landscape at different moments in her history. Five scholars from Japan and five local scholars make a fashion statement, drawing on a variety of related topics such as sartorial regulation, artistry and aesthetics, fashion as an index to a nation's global standing, cross-gendered theatrical costuming, and dressing to mask personal identity. How clothing relates to status and gender, as well as aesthetics and power, will be some of the questions addressed by the papers.
The workshop is bilingual and facilitated by interpreters. The papers are available in English and Japanese on this website (please click "Papers" in the menu to left). At the workshop, each speaker will present a summary of her/his paper instead of reading it in its entirety. After a brief response and commentary by local faculty, the program will be open for Q&A with the audience.
Program
Chaired by: Kevin CARR, Dept. of History of Art, The University of Michigan
"The Forms of Apparel and the Forms of Love: Torikaebaya and Aristocratic Attire in 9th to 12th- Century Japan"
TAKEDA Sachiko, Osaka University of Foreign Languages
Esperanza RAMIREZ-CHRISTENSEN (Commentator), Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, The University of Michigan
"Performing the Feminine: Women Characters' Attire in the Medieval Noh Theater"
WAKITA Haruko, Josai International University
Ethan SEGAL (Commentator), History Department, Michigan State University
"Japanese Fashion, or Ambiguous Gender Difference"
FUKAI Akiko, The Kyoto Costume Institute
Natsu OYOBE (Commentator), The University of Michigan Museum of Art
7:00-8:00 ~ Buffet Dinner
8:00-10:00 p.m. ~ Part II. Classed Wear And Gendered Garb In Comparative Perspective
Chaired by: Markus NORNES, Screen Arts & Cultures and Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, The University of Michigan
"Gendered Wear and Classed Clothing: Regulation and Transgression in Early Modern Japan"
WAKITA Osamu, Osaka Museum of History
Sumiao LI (Commentator), Joint program in English and Women's Studies, The University of Michigan
"The Woman of Fashion: Fashionable Femininity in England, 1821-1861"
Sumiao LI, Joint program in English and Women's Studies, The University of Michigan
Christian DE PEE (Commentator), Dept. of History, The University of Michigan
"The Cross-Dressed Chinese Modern Girl as Reality and Representation"
Liang LUO, Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, The University of Michigan
David ROLSTON (Commentator), Dept. of Asian Languages and Cultures, The University of Michigan
"Outfitting the Modern Meiji Woman: Clothes in the Diary of Higuchi Ichiyo (1872-1896)"
MORI Mayumi, Tokyo International University
Liang LUO (Commentator), U-M
The Commemorative Organization for the Japan World Exposition,
The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science,
and the following University of Michigan units:
Center for Japanese Studies
Office of the Vice President for Research
Institute for Research on Women & Gender,
Department of History,
The Women’s Studies Program,
and East Asia Gender Forum.