Could anyone help me with my Anthropology project?

Question

I want my project to be about the way different cultures in different times understand corporal beauty. More precisely: Techniques used to make the body more beautiful in different cultures and ages. So I need examples of cultures and their techniques for embellishing their body. Maybe you could help by suggesting some books too.

Answer 1

Hi Oana,
Great project idea. I know of a few places you could look for information. One is in Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body, and Culture. In the 2001 December issue there is an article called "The Anthropological Study of Body Decoration as Art: Collective Representations and the Somatization of Affect" by Ragnar Johnson. There's a book called "Tattoo, Turture, Mutiliation and Adornment: The Denaturalization of the Body in Culture and Text" by Mascia-Lees and Sharpe. Also "Body Art" by Michael D. Lemonick, "Adorned" by Anna Edmondson and Chris Boylan, "Vital Creativity: Exibiting Beauty and Heritage in Material Culture," and "The Fabrics of Culture: The Anthropology of Clothing and Adornment" are interesting books to look at. Good luck with your project.

Answer 2

Look up "foot binding" in traditional Chinease cultures. It's no longer a legal practice, but it was considered a beauty treatment. Now it's considered a type of torture and deformity. Here are some others:
Corsetry or tightlacing - binding of the waist and shaping of the torso
Cranial binding - modification of the shape of infants' heads, now extremely rare
Non-surgical elongation of organs by prolonged stretching using weights or spacing devices. Some cultural traditions prescribe for or encourage members of one sex (or both) to have one organ stretched till permanent re-dimensioning has occurred, such as
The 'giraffe-like' stretched necks (sometimes also other organs) of women among the Burmese Kayan tribe, the result of wearing brass coils around them. This compresses the collarbone and upper ribs but is not medically dangerous. It is a myth that removing the rings will cause the neck to 'flop'; Padaung women remove them regularly for cleaning etc.
Stretched lip piercings - achieved by inserting ever larger plates, such as those made of clay used by some Amazonian tribes.

There are tons of examples out there, hope this helps!

Answer 3

I don't have precise info of what you are asking, but in southern america, tribes were (and still are) practicing some body sculpting stuff, life pressing the head of infants on wooden board so their head would be elongiated... Egypt has known for ages about beauty products ( archaeological finds : flask and what not, and some written documents showed what was used)... Sorry I can't be more specific but maybe it can help you out where and what to search exactly.

Answer 4

cultures: Japanese(back when the geisha's had very high standards, wearing the kimono or putting on makeup the right way to show off the beauty and sex appeal)
African American( i remember a news report that they wore this neck piece, very long/high, lots of rings on it, it was a sign of beauty the more rings you had the more beautiful you were, since it "elongated" the neck. though it really didn't make your neck longer.)
Egypt(the royalty were always embellished with jewels and signs of wealth. especially when they were buried they were adorned with jewels.)
Indian(Middle eastern)(the jewelery they wore represented different things, nose rings meant they were married)

am sure that every culture has there own ideals of beauty.
i hope that was helpful

Answer 5

Some of the episodes on Taboo- on the National Geographic channel cover the subjects of tattoos, piercings feet binding, and other subjects that are found in various cultures.