Negotiating 'Plainness' and Gender

Dancing and Apparel at Christian Weddings in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, 1913-1944

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3933359
AutoresWendy Urban-Mead (Bard College), Wendy Urban‐mead (Bard College, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen38
Número2
Páginas209-246
Fecha de publicación2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/157006608x289684
OpenAlexW1998129096
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas10

This article analyzes the phenomena of dancing and wedding apparel in weddings of rural members of an unusual Protestant denomination of Anabaptist origins in Matabeleland, colonial Zimbabwe. The focus is on gendered aspects of African Christian adaptation of mission teaching amongst Ndebele members of the Brethren in Christ Church. The church in North America was firm at home on the matter of dancing (it was forbidden), and internally conflicted regarding men's garb. In the decades preceding World War II, African members of the church embraced fashionable dress for grooms and dancing at wedding feasts as common practice at BICC weddings. However, in a gendered pattern reflecting Ndebele, colonial and mission ideas of women's subjection, African women's bridal wear adhered to church teaching on Plainness, while African men's did not

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