Dress and Adornment

The way that people dress and adorn themselves may simply be following the dictates of fashion, but it is frequently a means of giving expression to particular social, political or religious values. Specific kinds of dress or the use of certain types of ornamentation are pescribed by ritual or by convention, including deeply entrenched gender relations. Thus clothing and other adornment usually underline the wearer's status and identity. In some African communities, items of beadwork may be used to draw attention to a woman's status as the mother of an initiate who has just undergone circumcision, while in others they may play a significant role in divination practices. A wide range of southern African peoples, whose clothing combines traditional and Western elements, is represented in this book.