Clothes play significant roles in various aspects of people\u2019s lives and deaths. They are used to distinguish between groups, express individual personalities, and maintain or establish power relations. The humanizing potential of clothing makes it manipulable material for conflict, from the perspective of perpetrators, bystanders, and victims. The universality and particularity of clothes make them visible markers of identity which are used both to unite and divide. Clothes can also help provide rationale for galvanizing support for or resisting violent political agendas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blood-stained clothes testify to humiliation, injuries, and death. Elements of dress provide necessary evidence for tracing the details of crimes and of the people involved in them. But the display of clothes, shoes, and other personal items of victims also serve to demonstrate the magnitude and depersonalization of various genocides and massacres, racial lynchings, etc. Clothing can be tools of active intimidation, as in the case of Ku Klux Klan garb and other vigilante uniforms. Garments, as signifiers of identity, can also represent resistance against oppression and serve an important role in grief and even reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will explore the diverse connections and associations between mass violence and clothing in this two-day online workshop. Intended as an initial foray into collective exploration of the topic, we especially welcome papers that combine specific cases with broader historical and theoretical insights on the topic. Submissions should address the following points (but we\u2019re happy to get something completely different) in different societies and historical cases from around the world, past and present:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Sartorial rhetoric (speeches, visual illustrations, written documents) used to vilify a group and mark them for violence
– Particular dress as excuses for violence (e.g. women\u2019s \u201cseductive\u201d dress, dress as a tool of ethnic or racial profiling, etc.)
– Clothing as memorial objects
– The visibility and symbolism of worn colors and garments
– Identifying clothing of helpers amidst widespread violence
– The materiality and forensic limits of clothes in the context of violence
– Nakedness
– Dress and incarceration<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please send an abstract (300 words) that include reflections on the broader applicability of the topic at hand and a short bio (150 words) to conference organizers Kobi Kabalek, kabalek@psu.edu and Jennifer Le Zotte lezottej@uncw.edu by October 1, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hosted by the University of North Carolina Wilmington Public History Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n