LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter contains the literature review of the dissertation . In this part of the project , the author presents the academic theory regarding the culture and history of clothing in Rajasthan and its impact on the identity.
Culture is like a text in a book that needs interpretation to be fully understood . It is a cluster of ideas, which have symbolic meaning such as the different language, rituals, clothing and the like. It needs to be interpreted and understood like someone critically analyzing a piece of literature. This is important for the outsider to accurately understand the meaning behind certain behavior of a particular group. The study of culture is rather in-depth and there will be more discovery to make in …show more content…
However the primary function of clothing is protection modesty and decoration are opposed to each other. The main function of decoration is to enhance the bodily appearance so as to get attention from the viewers and hence escalate one’s self esteem whereas modesty is about hiding oneself from attracting too much attention. In words of Flügel clothing is nothing but a compromise between the fear and the desire for nudity, which gives clothing a dual aspect of both exhibition and hiding. Therefore he further explained that dressing was a kind of neurosis, which simultaneously hides and reveals what a person does not want to say by exhibiting symptoms and symbols. Hence clothing has been termed as a psychology trying to satisfy two opposing needs. Clothing concerns all the human person in terms of relationship of the man to the body as well as the relationships of the body to the society. In this context we can witness the conversational nature of clothing between the wearer and the group and from the group to the wearer. Flügel also highlights that clothing could be less of an index but more a form of communication. The relationship between protection and dressing up in the light of ethnographic observations says people living in harsh climate prefer to adorn rather than protect themselves with clothes which is true in case of Rajasthan since the weather in Rajasthan is dry, arid and harsh and yet people are seen in colorful clothing with heavy jewelry. Dress is often reserved for the act of protection whereas adornment for the acts of ornamentation and it has been observed that motivation for adornment is by far the most important factor.¬¬ Barthes argues that the historian and the sociologist are not only responsible with simply studying the tastes, comfort and
This chapter contains the literature review of the dissertation . In this part of the project , the author presents the academic theory regarding the culture and history of clothing in Rajasthan and its impact on the identity.
Culture is like a text in a book that needs interpretation to be fully understood . It is a cluster of ideas, which have symbolic meaning such as the different language, rituals, clothing and the like. It needs to be interpreted and understood like someone critically analyzing a piece of literature. This is important for the outsider to accurately understand the meaning behind certain behavior of a particular group. The study of culture is rather in-depth and there will be more discovery to make in …show more content…
However the primary function of clothing is protection modesty and decoration are opposed to each other. The main function of decoration is to enhance the bodily appearance so as to get attention from the viewers and hence escalate one’s self esteem whereas modesty is about hiding oneself from attracting too much attention. In words of Flügel clothing is nothing but a compromise between the fear and the desire for nudity, which gives clothing a dual aspect of both exhibition and hiding. Therefore he further explained that dressing was a kind of neurosis, which simultaneously hides and reveals what a person does not want to say by exhibiting symptoms and symbols. Hence clothing has been termed as a psychology trying to satisfy two opposing needs. Clothing concerns all the human person in terms of relationship of the man to the body as well as the relationships of the body to the society. In this context we can witness the conversational nature of clothing between the wearer and the group and from the group to the wearer. Flügel also highlights that clothing could be less of an index but more a form of communication. The relationship between protection and dressing up in the light of ethnographic observations says people living in harsh climate prefer to adorn rather than protect themselves with clothes which is true in case of Rajasthan since the weather in Rajasthan is dry, arid and harsh and yet people are seen in colorful clothing with heavy jewelry. Dress is often reserved for the act of protection whereas adornment for the acts of ornamentation and it has been observed that motivation for adornment is by far the most important factor.¬¬ Barthes argues that the historian and the sociologist are not only responsible with simply studying the tastes, comfort and