Fifteen American graduate students and faculty contribute 14 chapters examining dressed bodies and questions of agency and power in African dress and fashion. The text evolved from
conversations in anthropology and performance studies at Northwestern U., resulting in 2008 and 2009 conferences held at the university on dress, popular culture, performance and social action
in Africa. The majority of chapters in the collection were presented at one of the two events. A sampling of topics: the politically performative quality of an Igbo woman’s attire; multiple
meanings in the Mauritanian veil; youth, dress, and consumption in Niger; and international fashion and West African portraiture. For students and scholars of fashion and dress, material
culture and consumption, performance studies, and art history in relation to Africa and globally. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
