Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Assam, situated in the North-Eastern part of India is immensely rich in cultural heritage. The existence of multiple “ethnic” and “non-ethnic” groups in the region showcases their prolificacy in textiles and clothing. Clothing plays a significant role in everyday life; whether we like it or not; choosing a dress for a particular event can be linked as an ideological act. This paper deals with the history of women’s dress and its change in Assam (twentieth-century precisely), relating it to the major socio-cultural and political events of Assam. The study is confined particularly to the “Assamese” community of Assam. Colonial annexation in the 1820s brought gradual transformation in Assamese women’s dress, and it is said that modernity in Assam came with the advent of British Assam. The researcher has tried to look at the change of women’s dress from collected photographs, ranging from the late nineteenth century onwards. However, the photo-elicitation method used has been productive in a way that helped in reviving the past through individual memory and was more informative. Through the study, it was found how other than covering one’s body, dress can be critically examined and linked to the question of identity, gender, class, caste, nationalism and so on. This research will help people to know how clothing as an important element of material culture is being linked to certain new ideologies and provides multiple meanings at different point of time.