Between Clothes and the Body: National and Gender Identity among Eritrean Women Refugees

Abstract

This article focuses on issues of agency, material culture, and national and gender identity in the life experiences of Eritrean women refugees in Tel Aviv, Israel. This anthropological research examined two main styles of dress: everyday dress that reflects Western lifestyle and traditional patterns of dress. I demonstrate how clothes serve as a political site within which perceptions of gender and nationalism are reshaped, thus creating the women’s refugee identity. I conclude by suggesting that the refugee experience can be seen to reinforce expressions of liberation and empowerment. I further argue that the dressed body can be seen as an active agent that shapes the new reality of the women refugees in their host country.

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