Search Results (19)

Daoist robes in the Ming Dynasty literature underwent a marked transformation from exclusive religious vestments to widespread secular attire. Originally confined to Daoist priests and sacred rites, these garments began to appear in everyday work, entertainment, and ceremonies across social strata. Drawing on a hand-coded corpus of novels that yields robe related passages, and by analyzing textual references from Ming novels, Daoist canonical works, and visual artifacts, and applying clothing psychology and semiotic theory, this study elucidates how Daoist robes were re-coded as secular fashion symbols. For example, scholar-officials donned Daoist robes to convey moral prestige, laborers adopted them to signal upward mobility, and merchants donned them to impersonate the educated elite for commercial gain. By integrating close textual reading with cultural theory, the article advances a three-stage model, sacred uniform, ritual costume, and secular fashion, that clarifies the semantic flow of Daoist robes. In weddings and funerals, many commoners flaunted Daoist robes despite sumptuary laws, using them to assert honor and status. These adaptations reflect both the erosion of Daoist institutional authority and the dynamic process of identity construction through dress in late Ming society. Our interdisciplinary analysis highlights an East Asian perspective on the interaction of religion and fashion, offering historical insight into the interplay between religious symbolism and sociocultural identity formation. Full article

This study examines the symbolic ambiguity of Buddhist robes in the Heian period, focusing particularly on their representation in The Tale of Genji. While Buddhist monastic garments traditionally signify religious renunciation, they also functioned as fashion items regulated by strict social norms. Through an analysis of Heian-era dress codes and deviations from them, as well as literary portrayals of robes associated with ordination scenes, this study reveals that robes embodied not only religious aspirations but also worldly attachments. Literary depictions highlight the tension between formal religious identity and persistent human desires, demonstrating how Buddhist robes served not only as religious symbols but also as mediators between spiritual ideals and secular emotions. By examining robes as visual and emotional media within a broader cultural and historical framework, this paper argues that Buddhist robes during the Heian period symbolized the complex intersection of salvation and desire. Ultimately, this study sheds light on how religious symbols, rather than representing pure spiritual transcendence, reveal the enduring contradictions inherent in human nature. Full article

For over two decades, France’s Muslim population has faced a series of legal measures and hostile public narratives aimed at problematizing their faith. Notable examples include the 2004 national ban on “ostentatious religious symbols” in state schools, which prohibits obligatory religious dress in various settings. These individual instances are compounded by more recent broader policies, decisions, laws, and executive statements that negatively impact Muslim life. This paper examines France’s trajectory from a new perspective: A Muslim legal viewpoint. It argues that the French approach constitutes a two-step process of institutionalized Islamophobia, understood here as hostility towards Islam as a faith. First, the state redefines mainstream Islamic orthopraxy as “extreme”, pitting ordinary religious practices against averred Republican values. Second, it seeks to promote an alternative concept of a “French Islam”—one that aligns with France’s secular principles and is stripped of its religious essence—positioning it as the only acceptable framework for Muslims to practice their faith in France. We argue that this process is not about upholding laïcité or state neutrality; rather, invoking the latter serves as a smokescreen for the state’s Islamophobia. Full article

In the debate over the theory and practice of the Spanish empire at the beginning of the sixteenth century, political, religious, and legal discourses differentiated conquered peoples and recent converts to Christianity from so-called “old Christians”, thereby creating distinct categories of Spanish subjects. In Spain itself, cultural markers like language, dress, and diet became the foundations of fiscal and legal differences, while normative codes were promulgated and negotiated across a range of documents, e.g., legal instruments, civic and ecclesiastical records, university debates, and juridical theory. Concomitant with this process, a set of Christian catechisms was produced in Spain, both before and after the promulgation of Tridentine reforms, that were directed especially at the converted morisco populations in Granada and Valencia. These catechisms were produced in Iberian Arabic and Romance languages and included instructions about how new converts from Islam should behave, as well as what they should believe in order to participate in liturgical activities and to be recognized as full members of the Christian community. This article examines the morisco catechisms produced in Spain between 1496 and 1566, as these documents are representative of a unique period in both the history of Latin Christianity and the burgeoning Spanish empire. Through the emergence of this corpus and against the backdrop of targeted legislation and new policies aimed at Arabic-speaking moriscos, first in Granada and later in Valencia, the ideological foundations constraining the morisco experience were forged. Full article

The Franciscan Order was one of the most important missionary orders in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. While rooted in the local communities, they also engaged in various forms of interactions with Chinese literati. This article will begin by briefly discussing the issue of the Franciscans changing from religious habit into Chinese dress as well as their evolving attitude towards Confucianism and Chinese rituals, aiming to illustrate the process of shaping their “Western Confucian” image and their adaptation to Chinese culture. Subsequently, the focus of this paper will be shifted to exploring the modes of interactions between the Spanish Franciscans and the Chinese literati. The author argues that the interactions between the two sides were primarily power-based. These power-based interactions entailed establishing connections with officials and leveraging their influence to safeguard missionary activities. It can be further categorized into three types. The first type involved socializing with officials, while the second type included interaction with Jesuit officials in court, and the third type was direct involvement in official positions. In their engagement with literati, the Franciscans demonstrated a thorough understanding of and adaptation to Chinese societal and cultural norms, thereby facilitating the development of their mission. Full article

Christian communities in Palestine and Al-Andalus faced similar challenges during the ninth century. Although Muslim authorities tolerated Christianity and enshrined a certain degree of religious freedom, they downgraded these communities and encouraged conversion to Islam. In the long span, Christian communities decreased because many of their leading members emigrated or converted. Moreover, many of those that remained adopted the Arabic language, dressed like Muslims, and became increasingly assimilated into the ruling elite Muslim culture. This article suggests that the contacts and reciprocal influence between Christian communities from Palestine and Spain during this period were more substantial than hitherto perceived. Thus, they used the same methods with some local adaptations to tackle their critical situation. They introduced a growing use of Arabic in religious life, established and upgraded important pilgrimage shrines, and some extremist monastic communities fostered and encouraged martyrdom. Full article

Majapahit was one of Indonesia’s most prominent and last Hindu kingdoms in the 12–15th centuries. During this time, there was a process of changing religious beliefs among the Javanese population, who then embraced Hinduism to eventually become Muslim. In the 14th and 15th centuries, according to estimates, Islam began to spread throughout the Majapahit Empire. There was also a cultural shift in the Majapahit Kingdom’s society, from how they dressed to the shape of their houses. This study aims to determine how structures from that time were interpreted using a 3D model based on field surveys and previous studies. This documentation’s findings are divided into typology, spatial distribution, and architectural elements. Each of these three groups was further defined through Islamic law to determine the extent of Islam’s Influence on dwellings throughout the Majapahit Era. The impact of Islam on Majapahit architecture during that time was characterised by openness in terms of building typology, compactness in the internal layout of buildings, and the employment of ornamental architectural features based on plant and abstract patterns. Full article

Sculpted representations of the Passion of Christ became widely used for popular religious devotion in Portuguese America. They comprise a variety of forms, since the Passion had so many episodes, and thus necessitated various bodily positions for Christ. In investigating the manufacture and trade of Latin American Baroque sculpture, it is possible to identify a market of whole-body carvings, items of dress, and loose body parts, such as heads, hands, feet, etc. This parts-based approach to sculpture, in effect, transformed them from “finished” works into “open” ones. The idea of an open artwork applies to objects that are not usually classified as art. This openness can be found in lifelike images that encourage the viewer to connect with them emotionally. In the case of images that show suffering, viewers respond with empathetic horror before the realistically proportioned and colored representations. The present study analyzes the idea of an open artwork by focusing on sculptural series of the Passion, especially scenes of the Agony in the Garden, that belong to Carmelite lay brotherhoods in São Paulo, Mogi das Cruzes, Itu, and Santos, cities in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Images of the Passion existed in a constant process of transformation and, thus, openness, from their manner of construction to their uses in Holy Week rituals. By allowing viewers to interact with them on their own terms, we argue that devotional sculptures had far-reaching potential. Full article

Governments around the world have gone to great lengths to discourage and prohibit wearing of the niqab, often relying on the justification that this form of Muslim women’s dress represents and produces the oppression of women. Setting aside that these prohibitions are themselves detrimental to women’s equality, this article focuses on the voices of women who wear the niqab or face veil. I describe and analyze how women explain their decision to wear the niqab based on interviews in seven liberal democracies. For most women, the primary motivation for wearing the niqab is religious, though supplementary reasons are also offered. The niqab is an embodied practice that represents a personal spiritual journey. Women’s explanations for why and when they wear the niqab suggest a complex intermingling of doctrinal knowledge and practical lived experience that negotiates religion day to day. Women often pair their religious agency with a sophisticated rights-based framework to justify their sartorial choices. Women refute the idea that the niqab makes them submissive. Their empowered interpretations of their religion and their conviction to lead a life that is different from most, in countries with pervasive anti-Muslim racism, suggest a great deal of independence and courage. This research offers nuance to the depiction of women who are typically portrayed monotonously, dispelling inaccurate stereotypes used to support discriminatory decision making about niqab-wearing women. Full article

It has been said that the ancient Egyptians were raised to tolerate all kinds of toil and hardship; they nevertheless also liked to amuse themselves with comic relief in their everyday life. For example, ancient Egyptian drawing can be quite accurate and at times even spirited. What scholars have described as caricatures are as informative and artistic as supposed serious works of art. Ancient Egyptians have left countless images representing religious, political, economic, and/or social aspects of their life. Scenes in Egyptian tombs could be imitated on ostraca (potsherds) that portray animals as characters performing what would normally be human roles, behaviors, or occupations. These scenes reveal the artists’ sense of comedy and humor and demonstrate their freedom of thought and expression to reproduce such lighthearted imitations of religious or funeral scenes. This paper will focus on a selection of drawings on ostraca as well as three papyri that show animals—often dressed in human garb and posing with human gestures—performing parodies of human pursuits (such as scribes, servants, musicians, dancers, leaders, and herdsmen). Full article

In Europe, gender equality can be framed as a secular value, juxtaposed against affiliation with and practice of Islam. Academic and public debate has either given special attention to the spread of religious fundamentalism in Europe, or to the way Muslim women dress, citing how both purportedly jeopardize gender equality. This is despite findings that a link between gender equality and religiosity or practice of Islam is neither inherent nor circumscribed. Moreover, it is possible to demonstrate that such discourse rests on implicitly racialized conceptualizations of the Muslim “other”. Meanwhile, Muslim youth in particular are benchmarked against these imagined standards of gender equality, as compared with non-Muslim peers. This work examines ways in which normative secular frameworks and discourses, taking ownership of gender equality narratives, have shaped Europe’s academic inquiry regarding Muslim youth. It notes what is absent in this inquiry, including intersections of race and class, which remain divorced from the limited conversation on gender and religious difference. A reflexive, intersectional approach to this discussion, conscious of the importance of embedded racial or structural inequality and what is absent in current inquiry, better serves in understanding and navigating power relations that ultimately contribute to multiple exclusion of these youth. Full article

There are several reviews that separately cover different aspects of fish gelatin including its preparation, characteristics, modifications, and applications. Its packaging application in food industry is extensively covered but other applications are not covered or covered alongside with those of collagen. This review is comprehensive, specific to fish gelatin/hydrolysate and cites recent research. It covers cosmetic applications, intrinsic activities, and biomedical applications in wound dressing and wound healing, gene therapy, tissue engineering, implants, and bone substitutes. It also covers its pharmaceutical applications including manufacturing of capsules, coating of microparticles/oils, coating of tablets, stabilization of emulsions and drug delivery (microspheres, nanospheres, scaffolds, microneedles, and hydrogels). The main outcomes are that fish gelatin is immunologically safe, protects from the possibility of transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and foot and mouth diseases, has an economic and environmental benefits, and may be suitable for those that practice religious-based food restrictions, i.e., people of Muslim, Jewish and Hindu faiths. It has unique rheological properties, making it more suitable for certain applications than mammalian gelatins. It can be easily modified to enhance its mechanical properties. However, extensive research is still needed to characterize gelatin hydrolysates, elucidate the Structure Activity Relationship (SAR), and formulate them into dosage forms. Additionally, expansion into cosmetic applications and drug delivery is needed. Full article

According to China’s tourism statistics, the inbound tourism market is composed of eight types of travel motivations (sightseeing, leisure, business meeting (business-m), visiting relatives and friends (visiting-rf), shopping, religious worship (religious-w), culture and sports (culture-s), and health care (health-c)), and the spatial distribution of each type of travel motivation is significantly different. Four inbound sub-markets (foreigners, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) were selected as our research object. Through empirical analysis of the variable elasticity of eight different inbound motive market segments, we found that the sensitivities (elasticity) of the influencing factors (traffic conditions (traffic-c), destination image (destination-i), industry structure (industry-s), infrastructure, consumer price index (CPI), resource endowment (resource-e), and dressing index (ICL)) are different. Therefore, investment options in the target market can have differential treatment based on the rate of marginal return on investment. In accordance with the characteristics of different market segments, we suggest more feasible development paths and countermeasures, providing a decision-making basis for the accurate development of the inbound tourism market. Full article

This article, part of an evolving and large project, examines the relationship between clothing, freedom and choice, and specifically Islamic dress in shaping the identity of Dutch Muslim women after the Burka Ban that was voted into law on 1 August 2019 in the Netherlands. It discusses the debates before and after this date, as well as the background to the ban. A veil covering the face is a garment worn by some Muslim women to adhere to an interpretation of hijab (modest dress). It can be referred to as a burqa or niqab. In the aftermath of the Burka Ban that prompted considerable public alarm on the part of Muslim men and women, niqab-wearing women, as well as women who do not wear a veil, but are in solidarity with their niqabi sisters, raised a number of questions that form the basis for the analysis presented here: how do Dutch Muslim women shape their identity in a way that it is both Dutch and Muslim? Do they incorporate Dutch parameters into their Muslim identity, while at the same time weaving Islamic principles into their Dutch sense of self? The findings show how Islamic clothing can be mobilized by Dutch Muslim women to serve identity formation and personal (religious) choice in the Netherlands, where Islam is largely considered by the non-Muslim population to be a religion that is oppressive and discriminatory towards women. It is argued that in the context of being Dutch and Muslim, these women express their freedom of choice through clothing, thus pushing the limits of the archetypal Dutch identity and criticizing Dutch society while simultaneously stretching the meaning of Islam to craft their own identity. Full article

This study discusses two religious elements of culture emerging within various religiously conservative groups in Turkey. The first is concerned with the building of a religious work ethic, framing work life with Islamic morals and norms. The second involves religiously oriented consumption patterns among these groups, which generate a faith-driven dimension of culture in capitalist consumer society. The study deals with how and why these two religious-cultural dimensions arose, and what forms they take in contemporary Turkey. These forms operate in the background of dress and fashion concerns of the aforesaid groups, influencing clothing styles and consumption patterns, as well as being linked to the capitalist-Islamic work ethic. The study demonstrates how consumption styles have changed in line with transformations in the class structure of the groups in question. It examines the extent to which, with the development of new religious ethic and consumption styles compatible with capitalist economic order, interpretations of Islam have shaped and organized the economic and cultural fields in Turkey. We argue that there is a mutually formative relationship between economy, religion, and culture. In that relationship, religion, which paves the way for forming a class-based religious perspective in keeping with a capitalist system, undertakes an active role in shaping an economic sphere and cultural activities in everyday life. Full article