Dress Codes, Social and Political Messages from Medieval Spain to Bill 21

In celebration of Islamic History Month Canada and Peace Days - Montreal

Featuring Adnan Husain (Associate Professor, History Department, Queen's University) and Kathleen Ridolfo (Executive Director, Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, Washington D.C.), in conversation with Bradley Nelson (Chair, Classics Department, Concordia, Montreal).

Concordia, MB 9th Floor, 1450 Guy Street, Montreal or on Zoom.

Event Poster

Adnan Husain will present "'Clothes make the Man': Identity and Appearance in the Multicultural Medieval Mediterranean"

This brief talk will examine the connection between dress and appearance with ethnic, religious, and social group identity in the diverse world of the Mediterranean.  It will particularly examine how social hierarchies, inclusion and exclusion, were managed in new ways in part through regulations on clothing and cultural practices in Spain after the forcible conversion of Jews and Muslims to Christianity.  The talk suggests that the politics around what people wear has deep roots in the transition from ethno-religious distinctions to racial difference down to our own day.