I'm an assistant professor of Dress Studies at Indiana University (Bloomington) in the department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design.  I've also been a member of the African Studies faculty since 2004, the Islamic Studies faculty since 2008, and became an adjunct assistant professor of Anthropology in 2009.  Please click on the links to the left for more information about my academic background and publications.

Istudy ordinary objects that are used in extraordinary circumstances, items ofmaterial culture surrounding the body that shape and reflect transformations suchas acculturation and religious conversion. I find that this requires some very innovative research methods (sincepeople and cultures in transition do not always keep good records) as well asan open mind about the role of dress as a form of expressive culture.  I am guided by the idea that

"Man is born naked, but dies and is buried with clothes on." [1]

Assoon as we enter this world, our bodies and our minds begin to accumulatesocial meanings encoded through dress, an intensely personal and multi-sensorymedium (dress is something we see as well as feel, hear, smell, and taste).  The social meanings encoded in dress can eitherbe familiar and reassuring or cause tension for individuals who are caughtbetween cultures with conflicting expectations. Since my research has focused on African (Somali) and Islamic dress, Iam acutely aware that dress can also be a highly-charged political symbol. 

Muchlike the subjects of my research, my discipline is currently undergoing a transformation.  The term I most closely identify with—DressStudies—is built on the foundations of costume history and fashion design aswell as anthropology, folklore, and art history.  Due to the inter-disciplinary nature of mywork, I am also a member of the African Studies program, Islamic Studiesprogram, and an adjunct faculty member in Anthropology.  To borrow from the work of Dr. Joanne Eicher,“dress” refers to clothing and other body supplements as well as body modificationssuch as hairstyles and tattoos.

[1] Hilaire Hiler, Meyer Hiler, Helen Grant Cushing, and Adah V. Morris (1939), "Bibliography of Costume: A Dictionary Catalog of About Eight Thousand Books and Periodicals," New York: H.W. Wilson, pp xi.