Clothing Power: Hierarchies of Gender Difference and Ambiguity in Moche Ceramic Representations of Human Dress, C.E. 1-850 Open Access

Scher, Sarahh Elizabeth Malka (2010)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/c247ds77b?locale=en%5D
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Abstract

ABSTRACT
Clothing Power: Hierarchies of Gender Difference and Ambiguity in
Moche Ceramic Representations of Human Dress, C.E. 1-850
By Sarahh E.M. Scher
Using the representation of costume in ceramic art, this study examines how the Moche of northern Peru formulated ideals of gender and status, and how those ideals fit into larger Andean traditions of gender ambiguity. A synthesis of Panofskian iconography and semiotic analysis is used to understand the ways in which clothing and ornament speak to gender in Moche art. The elements of costume have been an essential part of social identity formation in the Andes for millennia, a trait that persists today. Moche ideals of gender are considered within a larger Amerindian tradition of gender ambiguity and its relationship to spirits and the divine. How the Moche upper classes negotiated between the spiritual power of the different-by-birth and the theocratic power of the noble-by-birth is visible in the treatment of sex and gender roles and the place of ambiguous gender in the art. Moche sex and gender exist in a continuum rather than in a dyad; while the poles of male and female are clearly defined, there are a number of individuals who are designated as ambiguous. Gender-ambiguous individuals in Moche art belong to three classes: performative, age-based, and diagnostically physical. All three rely on a combination of garments that erase distinctions of difference to signal this ambiguity. Gender ambiguity in Moche art is for the most part allied with private rituals, much more closely associated with the shamanic tradition than the public rites of the Sacrifice Ceremony, which were the province of the upper classes.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract________________________________________________________________iv Acknowledgements_______________________________________________________vi Chapter 1. Introduction____________________________________________________1 Chapter 2. Background and Methodology of the Study__________________________13 Introduction_____________________________________________________________13

Moche Ceramic Art_______________________________________________________ 14

Moche Ceramic Production_________________________________________________18

Moche Ceramic Chronology_________________________________________________19
Using Moche Art to Interpret Moche Culture___________________________________23

Seeing Moche Figural Representation through a New Lens________________________25

Conduct of the Study______________________________________________________28

Approaches to the Analysis of Moche Iconography______________________________31

Iconography Applied to the Analysis of Moche Ceramics__________________________32

A Semiotic Approach to Moche Ceramics______________________________________40

Chapter 3. Costume Theory, Textiles, and Dress in the Ancient Andes______________48

Terms and Definitions______________________________________________________48

Costume and Fashion Theory: The Meaning of Dress_____________________________49

Roland Barthes and the Semiotics of Fashion___________________________________58

Textiles in the Andean Tradition: Ethnographic and Archaeological Evidence_________63

Costume Elements in the Ancient Andes: Archaeological Evidence__________________78

Moche Textile and Costume: Archaeological Materials, Physical Evidence and Previous Studies_87

Conclusion________________________________________________________________94 Chapter 4. Gender in the Ancient Americas_____________________________________95

Gender in the Americas: An Overview__________________________________________95

Ethnographic, Art Historical and Archaeological Evidence_________________________100

Gender and Dress in the Ancient Americas_____________________________________120

Moche Sex and Gender: Previous Studies______________________________________124

Chapter 5. Costume, Sex and Gender in Moche Art______________________________128 Introduction______________________________________________________________128

Moche Costume Elements in Representation____________________________________129

Establishing the Sexes in Moche Art__________________________________________144

Establishing Male Sex: Nudity and Necessary Dress______________________________144

Establishing Female Sex: Nudity and Necessary Dress____________________________151

Constructing Gender From Sex Throughout the Life Cycle_________________________157

Infancy and Childhood______________________________________________________158

Adulthood________________________________________________________________171

Masculine Gender__________________________________________________________173

Feminine Gender___________________________________________________________183

Clothing and Gendering Foreigners____________________________________________196

Old Age__________________________________________________________________205

Men in Old Age____________________________________________________________205

Women in Old Age_________________________________________________________210

Creating Status Within a Gender Category: Masculine____________________________212

Creating Status Within a Gender Category: Feminine_____________________________239

Conclusions_______________________________________________________________244

Chapter 6. Gender Complication in Moche Iconography___________________________245

Gender Complication in Andean Thought and Within the Iconographic System_________246

Moche Ritual, the Shamanic Tradition, and Gender_______________________________247

The Problem of the Mantle___________________________________________________249

Performative Gender Complication_____________________________________________252

Life Stage Gender Complication_______________________________________________260

Physical Anomaly and Gender Complication_____________________________________270

The Place of Gender Complication in Moche Ideology_____________________________284

Chapter 7. Conclusion______________________________________________________286 Appendices I. List of Abbreviations______________________________________________________292

II. Illustrations____________________________________________________________293

Map_____________________________________________________________________294

Illustrations to Chapter 1

1.1___295 1.2___295

Illustrations to Chapter 2

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Illustrations to Chapter 3

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Illustrations to Chapter 4

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Illustrations to Chapter 5

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Illustrations to Chapter 6

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Illustrations to Chapter 7

7.1___443 III. Works Cited_____________________________________________444

IV. Catalogue Raisonné_______________________________________463

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