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CGUC, University of Waterloo – Fall 2017 RS 327/CLAS 326 – THE BODY, DRESS, AND RELIGION

Augustus of Prima Porta (1st century, Vatican Museum)

Class Time: Wednesdays 2:30-3:50 pm

Location: CGUC 1302

Instructor: Dr. Alicia Batten

Office Hours: Tuesdays 12-2 pm and by appointment Office Location: CGUC 2116

Phone: 519-885-0220 x24246

Email: abatten@uwaterloo.ca (please allow up to 24 hours response time)

Course Description From clothing to hairstyles to tattoos, dress can express beliefs, aspects of identity, and power.

This course examines dress in a variety of religions from ancient Greece to the modern era. The

course includes attention to the look and feel of dress on the body, conflicts that can arise over

dress and religion, as well as the role of dress in the formation and maintenance of religious

communities.

Learning Goals 1. To understand the significance of the body and dress for the study religion, with a focus

on “western” traditions (Greco-Roman Religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam).

2. To gain the ability to analyse why dress can be the centre of conflict both historically

and in the contemporary world.

3. To further develop research, writing and critical thinking skills.

Prerequisite: At least level 2A

Course Requirements: 1. Attendance and Participation – 10%

Students are required to attend all classes (missing full or part-classes lowers the overall

course mark by 2% for each miss - exceptions will be made for illness and family

emergency but please let the instructor know). Participation means that you read the

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assigned readings for each class, and offer comments, questions and listen to others

while in class. It also includes bringing a question about the reading to class each day

(these can be factual or more abstract). I will ask you to share these questions on a

regular basis.

2. In-class writing – 10%

Throughout the semester, I will ask you to write responses to general questions about

the reading on a given day. This writing will be submitted and marked on a pass/fail

basis (you need to demonstrate that you did the reading). It assists in focusing the

discussion and students have less likelihood of falling behind in the reading. You cannot

make this up if you miss class and such writing will not be accepted through email.

Again, exceptions are only in the case of illness or family emergency.

3. Mid-term Test – October 18th - 20%

This will be a closed-book essay test. I will give you the questions ahead of time and

make sure that everything is clear.

4. Annotated Bibliography – due in class on October 30th - 10%

Students will submit a bibliography in class (hard copy please) on October 30th of no

less than 10 sources (books, articles, chapters – please do not use online sources unless

it is a peer-reviewed, online journal). This bibliography will be in Chicago format, and

will contain a sentence or two beneath each source indicating the value of the source

for the paper.

5. Paper – due in class on November 27th - 25%

This paper should be 2000-2500 words long (including footnotes or endnotes) plus a

separate bibliography in Chicago format. Please provide a word count at the end of the

paper. I am glad to review outlines and drafts in person with students.

6. Final Take-Home Exam – 25%

This will consist of essay questions that I will distribute ahead of time. The final take-

home should be submitted on LEARN on December 15th, by 4 pm.

Late Assignment Policy: Bibliographies and papers submitted late will lose 2% per day late. The final take-home will not

be accepted past 4 pm on December 15th.

Required Reading Materials: 1) A course reader (RS 327/CLAS 326) is available in the bookstore.

2) Various other readings are posted on the LEARN page.

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Schedule (readings are in the courseware reader [CW] except as noted)

Sept 11 Introduction to the course

Sept 13 Topic: Theorizing the body, dress, and religion

Reading: Umberto Eco, “Lumbar Thought” in Fashion Theory Reader, edited by Malcolm

Barnard, 315-317. Oxford: Routledge, 2007 (CW: 154-560); Joanne Entwistle, “Fashion and the

Fleshly Body: Dress as Embodied Practice,” Fashion Theory. A Journal of Dress, Body and Culture

4/3 (2000): 323-348 (CW 168-192).

Sept 18 Topic: Clothing and Adornment in Antiquity

Reading: Alicia J. Batten, “Clothing and Adornment.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 40 (2010): 148-

159 (CW: 25-36). We will look at a variety of primary texts in class.

Sept 20 Topic: Greek and Roman Contexts

Reading: Mireille Lee, Body, Dress, and Identity in Ancient Greece, 214-229. New York:

Cambridge, 2015 (CW: 327-342).

Sept 25 Topic: Greek and Roman Contexts

Reading: Harrianne Mills, “Greek Clothing Regulations: Sacred and Profane?” Zeitschrift für

Papyrologie und Epigraphik 55 (1984): 255-265 (CW: 364-374); Phyllis Culham, “What Meaning

Lies in Colour!” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 64 (1986): 235-245 (CW: 78-88).

Sept 27 Topic: Greek and Roman Contexts – Focus on the Mysteries of Andania

Reading: The Andanian Mysteries of Messenia (on LEARN); Laura Gawlinski , “`Fashioning’

Initiates: Dress at the Mysteries,” in Reading a Dynamic Canvas, edited by Cynthia S. Colburn

and Maura K. Heyn, 146-169. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008 (CW 258-269).

October 2 Topic: Greek and Roman Contexts – Focus on Tatooing and Branding

Reading: C.P. Jones, “Stigma: Tattooing and Branding in Graeco-Roman Antiquity,” Journal of

Roman Studies 77 (1987): 139-155 (CW: 297-313).

October 4 Topic: Ancient Judaism

Reading: Dafna Schlezinger-Katsman, “Clothing” in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in

Roman Palestine, edited by Catherine Hezser, 362-381. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010

(CW: 434-453). Selections from the Qumran Scrolls and Josephus (on LEARN).

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October 9 – No class.

October 11 – No class.

October 13 – Note that this a Friday

Topic: Ancient Judaism

Reading: Selections from the Mishnah (on LEARN); David Kraemer, “Adornment and Gender in

Rabbinic Judaism,” in Envisioning Judaism, Volume One, edited by Raʿanan S. Boustan, Klaus

Herrman, Reimund Leicht, Annette Yoshiko Reed, and Giuseppe Veltri, 217-234. Tübingen:

Mohr Siebeck, 2013 (CW: 271-280).

October 16 Catch up and review for mid-term; discussion of research and writing.

October 18 – Mid-term test

October 23 Topic: New Testament Selections

Reading: Alicia J. Batten, “Neither Gold nor Braided Hair (1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Peter 3:3):

Adornment, Gender, and Honour in Antiquity.” New Testament Studies 55 (2009): 484-501 (CW:

38-55); Dietmar Neufeld, “Under the Cover of Clothing: Scripted Clothing Performances in the

Apocalypse of John.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 35 (2005): 67-76 (CW: 423-432). Various

selections from the New Testament (on LEARN).

October 25 Topic: Ancient Christianity: Focus on Tertullian of Carthage

Reading: Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins (on LEARN). Carly Daniel-Hughes, “’Wear the

Armour of Your Shame!’: Debating Veiling and the Salvation of the Flesh in Tertullian of

Carthage.” Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses 39 (2010): 179-201 (CW: 91-113).

October 30 – Annotated Bibliography due at the beginning of class. Topic: Cross-dressing Christians

Reading: Maria Doerfler, “Coming Apart at the Seams: Cross-dressing, Masculinity, and the

Social Body in Late Antiquity,” in Dressing Judeans and Christians in Antiquity, edited by Kristi

Upson-Saia, Carly Daniel-Hughes, and Alicia J. Batten, 37-51. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2014 (CW:

145-152).

Nov 1 Topic: Dress and Early Christian Ritual – Examples from Coptic Christianity

Reading: Stephen J. Davis, “Fashioning a Divine Body: Coptic Christology and Ritualized Dress.”

Harvard Theological Review 98 (2005): 335-362 (CW: 116-143).

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Nov 6 Topic: Medieval Christianity

Reading: Allison D. Fizzard, “Shoes, Boots, Leggings, and Cloaks: The Augustinian Canons and

Dress in Later Medieval England.” Journal of British Studies 46 (2007): 245-262 (CW: 218-235).

Nov 8 Topic: Islam – Overview (with more discussion of Judaism) and the Sufi Robe

Reading: Lynne Hume, “Fashioning Faith,” in The Religious Life of Dress, 50-76. London:

Bloomsbury, 2013 (CW: 282-295); Jamal J. Elias, “The Sufi Robe (Khirqa) as a Vehicle of Spiritual

Authority,” in Robes and Honor. The Medieval World of Investiture, edited by Stewart Gordon,

275-89. New York: Palgrave, 2001 (CW: 159-166).

Nov 13 Topic: Veiling and Islam

Reading: Saher Amer, “Understanding Veiling in Islamic Sacred Texts,” in What is Veiling?, 21-

37. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014 (CW:1-9); Mohja Kahf, “From Her Royal

Body the Robe was Removed,” in The Veil, edited by Jennifer Heath, 27-43. Berkeley: University

of California Press, 2008 (CW: 316-324).

Skim: Beverly Chico, “Gender Headwear Traditions in Judaism and Islam.” Dress 27 (2000): 18-

36 (CW: 57-75)

Nov 15 Topic: Contemporary Issues – Ontario Mennonites and Dress

Guest lecture by Dr. Marlene Epp

Reading: Marlene G. Epp, “Carrying the Banner of Nonconformity: Ontario Mennonite Women

and the Dress Question.” Conrad Grebel Review 8 (1990): 237-257 (CW: 195-215).

Nov 20 – No class. Instructor at conference. Work on essays.

Nov 22 Topic: Contemporary issues regarding dress and religion in Canada

Guest lecture by Laura Morlock

Reading: A. Brenda Anderson and F. Volker Greifenhagen, “Covering Up on the Prairies:

Perceptions of Muslim Identity, Multiculturalism and Security in Canada,” in Islamic Fashion and

Anti-Fashion, edited by Emma Tarlo and Annalies Moors, 55-72. London: Bloomsbury, 2013

(CW: 12-22).

Nov 27 – Papers due Topic: Contemporary issues

Reading: Choose one of the following articles (read all three if you can, but read at least one of

them carefully). 1) Daniel Miller, “Denim. The Modesty of Clothing and Immodesty of Religion,”

in Modest Fashion. Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith, edited by Reina Lewis, 121-36. London:

Tauris, 2013 (CW: 353-362); 2) Karen M. Morin, “Men’s Modesty, Religion, and the State:

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Spaces of Collision.” Men and Masculinities 16 (2013): 307-28 (CW: 377-398); 3) Lynn S. Neal,

“OMG: Authenticity, Parody, and Evangelical Christian Fashion.” Fashion Theory: The Journal of

Dress, Body, and Culture 21 (2017): 223-44 (CW: 400-421).

Nov 29 Topic: Adopting or Leaving Behind Religious Dress

Reading: Sally Campbell Galman, “Un/Covering: Female Religious Converts Learning the

Problems and Pragmatics of Physical Observance in the Secular World.” Anthropology and

Education Quarterly 44 (2013): 423-441 (CW: 237-255); Susan O. Michelman, “Fashion and

Identity of Women Religious,” in Religion, Dress, and the Body, edited by Linda Arthur, 135-46.

Oxford: Berg, 1999 (CW: 344-350).

Dec 4 Conclusion of the course, review

Final Take-Home Due on LEARN by 4pm on December 15th.

Additional Books on One Day Reserve at the Milton Good Library (3rd floor of Grebel) Arthur, Linda B., ed., Religion, Dress, and the Body (1999)

Arthur, Linda B., ed., Undressing Religion. Commitment and Conversion from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

(2000)

Cleland, Liza, Glenys Davies and Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Greek and Roman Dress from A to Z (2007)

Daniel-Hughes, Carly, The Salvation of the Flesh in Tertullian of Carthage: Dressing for the Resurrection

(2011)

Edmondson, J.C., Alison M. Keith, eds., Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture (2008)

Gordon, Stewart, ed., Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture (2001)

Heath, Jennifer, ed., The Veil: Women Writers on its History, Lore, and Politics (2008)

Hume, Lynne, The Religious Life of Dress. Global Fashion and Faith (2013)

Lee, Mireille, Body, Dress, and Identity in Ancient Greece (2015)

Lewis, Reina, ed., Modest Fashion: Styling Bodies, Mediating Faith (2013)

Olson, Kelly, Dress and the Roman Woman: Self-Presentation and Society (2008)

Tarlo, Emma, ed., Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion: New Perspectives from Europe and America (2013)

Upson-Saia, Kristi, Carly Daniel-Hughes, Alicia J. Batten, eds., Dressing Judeans and Christians in

Antiquity (2014)

Cross-listed course Please note that a cross-listed course will count in all respective averages no matter under which

rubric it has been taken. For example, a PHIL/PSCI cross-list will count in a Philosophy major

average, even if the course was taken under the Political Science rubric.

Academic Integrity Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the

University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and

responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage and the Arts Academic Integrity

webpage for more information.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid

committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is

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unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid

offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek

guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean.

When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under

Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties,

students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for

the Assessment of Penalties.

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(other than a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A

student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 - Student

Appeals.

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the Needles Hall extension (1401), collaborates with all academic departments to arrange

appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic

integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your

disability, please register with the AS office at the beginning of each academic term.

Mental Health Support All of us need a support system. The faculty and staff in Arts encourage students to seek out mental

health supports if they are needed.

On Campus

Counselling Services: counselling.services@uwaterloo.ca / 519-888-4567 xt 32655

MATES: one-to-one peer support program offered by Federation of Students (FEDS) and Counselling Services

Health Services Emergency service: located across the creek form Student Life Centre

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Full details can be found online at the Faculty of ARTS website

Download UWaterloo and regional mental health resources (PDF)

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Territorial Acknowledgement We acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron

(also known as Neutral), Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is

situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on

each side of the Grand River.

For more information about the purpose of territorial acknowledgements, please see the CAUT Guide to

Acknowledging Traditional Territory (PDF).

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revise. Writing and Communication specialists offer one-on-one support in planning assignments,

synthesizing and citing research, organizing papers and reports, designing presentations and e-portfolios,

and revising for clarity and coherence.

You can make multiple appointments throughout the term, or you can drop in at the Library for quick

questions or feedback. To book a 50-minute appointment and to see drop-in hours, visit the Writing

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Please note that communication specialists guide you to see your work as readers would. They can teach

you revising skills and strategies, but will not change or correct your work for you.