| Hair: Its Power and Meaning in Asian Cultures Contributor(s): Hiltebeitel, Alf (Editor), Miller, Barbara D. (Editor), Obeyesekere, Gananath (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 0791437418 ISBN-13: 9780791437414 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $90.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 1998 Annotation: Hair - whether present or absent, restored or removed, abundant or scarce, long or short, bound or unbound, colored or natural - marks a person as clearly as speech, clothing, and smell. While hair's high salience as both sign and symbol extends cross-culturally through time, its denotations are far from universal. Hair is an inter-disciplinary look at the meanings of hair, hairiness, and hairlessness in Asian cultures, from classical to contemporary contexts. The contributors draw on a variety of literary, archaeological, religious, and ethnographic evidence. They examine scientific, medical, political, and popular cultural discourses. Topics covered include monastic communities and communities of fashion, hair codes and social conventions of rank, attitudes of enforcement and rebellion, and positions of privilege and destitution. Different interpretations include hair as a key aspect of female beauty, of virility, as obscene, as impure, and linked with other symbolic markers in bodily, social, political, and cosmological constructs. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social - Social Science | Customs & Traditions - Health & Fitness | Beauty & Grooming - General |
| Dewey: 391.509 |
| LCCN: 97-27147 |
| Physical Information: 314 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Asian - Ethnic Orientation - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Hair--whether present or absent, restored or removed, abundant or scarce, long or short, bound or unbound, colored or natural--marks a person as clearly as speech, clothing, and smell. It defines a person's gender, sexual availability and desirability, age, social status, and even political stance. It may also act as a basis for discrimination in treatment by others. While hair's high salience as both sign and symbol extends cross-culturally through time, its denotations are far from universal. Hair is an interdisciplinary look at the meanings of hair, hairiness, and hairlessness in Asian cultures, from classical to contemporary contexts. The contributors draw on a variety of literary, archaeological, religious, and ethnographic evidence. They examine scientific, medical, political, and popular cultural discourses. Topics covered include monastic communities and communities of fashion, hair codes and social conventions of rank, attitudes of enforcement and rebellion, and positions of privilege and destitution. Different interpretations include hair as a key aspect of female beauty, of virility, as obscene, as impure, and linked with other symbolic markers in bodily, social, political, and cosmological constructs. |
