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This book is the first book-length study to explore the sartorial politics of identity in the literature of the South Asian diaspora in Britain. Using fashion and dress as the main focus of analysis, and linking them with a myriad of identity concerns, the book takes the reader on a journey from the eighteenth century to the new millennium, from early travel account by South Asian writers to contemporary British-Asian fictions. Besides sartorial readings of other key authors and texts, the book provides an in-depth exploration of Kamala Markandaya's The Nowhere Man (1972), Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia (1990), Meera Syal's Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (1999) and Monica Ali's Brick Lane (2003).This work examines what an analysis of dress contributes to the interpretation of the featured texts, their contexts and identity politics, but it also considers what literature has added to past and present discussions on the South Asian dressed body in Br
itain. Endowed with an interdisciplinary emphasis, the book is of interest to students and academics in a variety of fields, including literary criticism, socio-cultural studies and fashion theory.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. 'Our Eastern costume created a sensation'.- 3. The 'Sartorially Undesirable "Other"'.- 4. 'It was stylish and "in" to be eastern'?.- 5. 'Chanel designing catwalk Indian suits'.- 6. 'She had her hijab pulled off'.- 7. A Sartorial Afterword.
About the author
Noemí Pereira-Ares is a Research Fellow in the Department of English and German Studies at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Her research interests include South Asian diaspora literature, migrant literature(s) in English, postcolonial, diaspora and transcultural studies, fashion theory and the sociological study of dress in literature.
Summary
This book is the first book-length study to explore the sartorial politics of identity in the literature of the South Asian diaspora in Britain. Using fashion and dress as the main focus of analysis, and linking them with a myriad of identity concerns, the book takes the reader on a journey from the eighteenth century to the new millennium, from early travel account by South Asian writers to contemporary British-Asian fictions. Besides sartorial readings of other key authors and texts, the book provides an in-depth exploration of Kamala Markandaya’s The Nowhere Man (1972), Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia (1990), Meera Syal’s Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee (1999) and Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (2003).This work examines what an analysis of dress contributes to the interpretation of the featured texts, their contexts and identity politics, but it also considers what literature has added to past and present discussions on the South Asian dressed body in Br
itain. Endowed with an interdisciplinary emphasis, the book is of interest to students and academics in a variety of fields, including literary criticism, socio-cultural studies and fashion theory.
Additional text
“Fashion, Dress and Identity … convincingly illustrates how dress, body and self are inextricably linked, more so in the context of contact zones … . This book is certainly of interest for specialists in diaspora studies but it is also a most convincing example of the urgent need to study the importance and functions of dress in literature. It can undoubtedly fulfil the expectations of scholars working on the literary representation of the South Asian diaspora … .” (Margarita Estévez-Saá, International Journal of Fashion Studies, Vol. 5 (02), 2018)
Report
"Fashion, Dress and Identity ... convincingly illustrates how dress, body and self are inextricably linked, more so in the context of contact zones ... . This book is certainly of interest for specialists in diaspora studies but it is also a most convincing example of the urgent need to study the importance and functions of dress in literature. It can undoubtedly fulfil the expectations of scholars working on the literary representation of the South Asian diaspora ... ." (Margarita Estévez-Saá, International Journal of Fashion Studies, Vol. 5 (02), 2018)
