Negotiating 'Plainness' and Gender

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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3933359
AutoresWendy Urban-Mead (Bard College), Wendy Urban‐mead (Bard College, autor correspondente)
Ano2008
Volume38
Fascículo2
Páginas209-246
Data de publicação2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666
EditoraWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/157006608x289684
OpenAlexW1998129096
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências 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

Archaeology · Christian Church · Christianity · Clothing · Colonialism · Negotiation · Political science · Protestantism · Social science · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies