A study of the cultural notions of clothing and nakedness in colonial Latin America, and their uses in construing ideas of superiority, social and economic status, gender, race, and power during the conquest and the colonial period. The role of clothing in indigenous cultures pre- and post- conquest will also be studied throughout the semester. We will examine a broad range of representations of clothing, costume, veiling, textiles, as well as perceived nakedness, uses of body paint and body mutilation, jewelry and adornments, among other expressions of the culture of clothing in both literary and historical written accounts (chronicles, letters, historias, poetry, treatises, and novels), oral traditions (such as myth and song in Aztec, Maya, Inca, and other indigenous cultures), and visual culture (codices, sculpture, religious paintings, portraiture).

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 10

Prerequisites: Open to senior and junior majors or by permission of the instructor.

Instructor: Guzauskyte

Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature

Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered

Notes: