|
BODY
AND CLOTHING
The body
can be understood as fundamental to human communication. Clothing
provides a means of both building and representing the body. At
the social level, clothing can help define an individual's belonging
to, or non-membership of, a certain group, creating a multifaceted
interplay of identities. Participants in religious traditions
might depend on clothing as a medium, as a means, for instance,
to communicate the identity of a religious leader, but non-participants,
too, have appropriated religion for their bodies, as we see when
the fashion industry and other systems of dress adopt and adapt
religious symbolism.
|