Dressing the Part

“From Olmec costume switching to Peruvian bundle burials we see which types of power were gendered, which symbols or motifs were power filled, and how these symbols were borne by the living and the dead. This collection showcases a mature gendered archaeology.”—Cheryl Claassen, author of Beliefs and Rituals in Archaic Eastern North America: An Interpretive Guide

“Focuses on how costume across precontact North, Central, and South America conveyed information about gender, power, and the relationship between the two. . . . A welcome addition.”—Choice

“Pursuing a more holistic understanding of gender in different cultures of the Americas, the authors of the volume explore how complex gender relationships and identities are both manifested in social relations and constituted by them. The studies also demonstrate the fluidity of gender and its manifestations, revealing how gender and associated costumes relate to or are appropriated by relationships of power.”—Latin American Research Review

“Proves that painstaking looking, combined with careful comparison and contrasting of art forms . . . can indeed shed light on the interrelationships of gender, power, and change in undocumented and previously misunderstood pasts.”—Latin American Antiquity

“Drawing from history, anthropology, ethnography, and material culture studies, the authors in the volume explore how gendered identities are part of the greater fabric of social relations, political power, and religious authority.”—Ethnohistory

“This volume brings new insight through its detailed analyses of case studies that span regions throughout the Americas.”—Americas

“Essential reading that not only brings fresh insights and highlights dynamism, fluidity, and contentious in the relationships between gender and power in ancient American societies, but also serves as a solid basis for further investigation.”—caa.reviews