ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how a history of costume course was restructured by eliminating the contemporary model of assessment in favor of ungrading, focusing the content on intersections between cultures, and exploring self-motivation connected to the students’ future research interests. Instructor focus was on cultivating text-focused, relaxed classroom interaction that built critical understanding from one week to the next, as well as on delivering detailed critical assessments. Understanding of historical dress development was supplemented by articles, firsthand accounts, and in-class demonstrations, allowing students to draw connections between disparate cultures, times, and methodologies in order to better understand the complex global systems that are at the heart of dress. An additional theme of environmental justice was woven throughout in the exploration of the critical roles of land and environment in defining apparel, both in shaping appearance and in recognizing/delineating a community among the wearers.
