|
|||
|
Home |
About | Program
| Registration |
Speakers | Receptions
| Call for Papers
| Sponsors | Contacts| CCCS Home
|
|
Ritva completed her Master of Arts in 1980 majoring in History of Art; her
PhD in 1999, with her dissertation in Craft Science (textiles and clothing).
Her main publications are: "Creating a Unique Dress" (1998 in English), Salonkimuoti
lehdistössä / Couture in the Press (2002 in Finnish) and a co-edited book of
readings Vaatekirja / A Book of Clothing (2000 in Finnish). Ritva has worked
in various positions, mostly as a lecturer, at the University of Helsinki since
1975. In 2003 she teaches history of fashion and theoretical approaches to fashion
and dress. For research interests see www.helsinki.fi/~rkosken/.
During the recent decade, Europe has received immigrants who express their religious, ethnic and cultural origins through dress in ways that seem to differ from the global fashions of the European population. The aim of the study is to understand how Muslim women construct their appearance in the Finnish cultural context, and how they feel about individuality and communality in dress.
A phenomenological approach is used to study nine Muslim women from various countries and their sense of the self and expression of it in dress, ten Somali women and their decision to wear or not wear the veil in social and religious situations, and fourteen teenaged Muslim girls' use of religious and global fashions.
The adult women and teenagers acknowledge a veil or scarf as a religious garment, although not all of them choose to wear it daily. The type of dress, veil included, is more determined by the sense of the self and situation than any outside factor regulating the dress. Many women's and especially teenagers' dress is featured by uniting global and Muslim fashions, the latter of which are mainly adopted from the Middle East, independent of the former home country of the informant.
 |
