Exquisite slaves : race, clothing, and status in colonial Lima / Tamara J. Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walker, Tamara J., 1978- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Black people--Race identity.

History.

Enslaved persons--Clothing.

Enslaved persons.

Clothing and dress--Social aspects.

Lima (Peru)--Social life and customs--18th century.

Lima (Peru).

Clothing and dress--Social aspects--Peru--Lima--History--18th century.

Clothing and dress.

Black people--Clothing--Peru--Lima--History--18th century.

Black people.

Enslaved persons--Clothing--Peru--Lima--History--18th century.

Black people--Race identity--Peru--Lima--History.

Peru--Lima.

Physical Description:

ix, 232 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

In 'Exquisite Slaves', Tamara J. Walker examines how slaves used elegant clothing as a language for expressing attitudes about gender and status in the wealthy urban center of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Lima, Peru. Drawing on traditional historical research methods, visual studies, feminist theory, and material culture scholarship, Walker argues that clothing was an emblem of not only the reach but also the limits of slaveholders' power and racial domination. Even as it acknowledges the significant limits imposed on slaves' access to elegant clothing, 'Exquisite Slaves' also showcases the insistence and ingenuity with which slaves dressed to convey their own sense of humanity and dignity. Building on other scholars' work on slaves' agency and subjectivity in examining how they made use of myriad legal discourses and forums, 'Exquisite Slaves' argues for the importance of understanding the body itself as a site of claims-making.

Contents:

Slavery and the aesthetic of mastery

Legal status, gender, and self-fashioning

Black bodies and boundary trouble

Painting, print culture, and colonial ideation

Ladies, gentlemen, slaves and citizens.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical referenvces and index.

ISBN:

9781107084032

1107084032

OCLC:

966274885