Dramatic Art 470H-001

Survey of Costume History, Honors Section

Fall Semester 2020; T-TH 9:45-11:00 AM;  Via Zoom (synchronous)
AND Most Tuesdays 5:15 to 6:15 PM in 105 Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art

Community Standards in Our Course and Mask Use (which does not apply to online courses).

This fall semester, while we are in the midst of a global pandemic, all enrolled students are required to wear a mask covering your mouth and nose at all times in our classroom. This requirement is to protect our educational community — your classmates and me — as we learn together. If you choose not to wear a mask, or wear it improperly, I will ask you to leave immediately, and I will submit a report to the Office of Student Conduct.  At that point you will be disenrolled from this course for the protection of our educational community. An exemption to the mask wearing community standard will not typically be considered to be a reasonable accommodation. Individuals with a disability or health condition that prevents them from safely wearing a face mask must seek alternative accommodations through the Accessibility Resources and Service. For additional information, see Carolina Together.

The honors section of costume history is an adjunct to the regular section of the class and seeks to provide additional depth as well as vocabulary.  The companion course provides an overview of Western-based costumes beginning in Ancient Egypt. The honors supplement allows more discussion of course topics as well as an examination of discrepancies in the reading.

Requirements: 

• Attendance at Drama 470 (9:45-11:00 T-Th) plus a one hour seminar for Honors students from 5:15 to 6:15 PM most Tuesdays; 
• A 15 page research paper (exclusive of illustrations and bibliography) with a specific topic identified below;
• An illustrated supplemental vocabulary list;
• The historic costume file;
• A mid-term and a final exam;
• Values and deadlines for some assignments vary from the regular section as indicated below;

The syllabus for DRAM 470 fall 2020 contains the plan for readings and class meetings and information about the Historic Costume File. Following is a schedule of class meetings.

Vocabulary lists:

Many unfamiliar words are used in this class and some familiar ones may be used in unfamiliar ways. These lists provide many of them, as a guide to the reading and class meetings. These lists are not meant to be definitive; some of the vocabulary on Lists 1, 2, and 3 may not be covered in fall 2019. Some words appear on more than one list (and may have more than one definition). Some of the words do not refer to clothing but appear because they are especially important within the costume context. See the Honors Supplemental list for details about that project.

• Vocabulary list #1
• Vocabulary list #2
• Vocabulary list #3
• Honors Supplemental list

Paper Topic:

A 15 page paper worth 35% of your grade should be submitted on November 3, 2020.  For graduate students, the specific topic must be an examination of the way the surface appearance of clothing in a particular era is created by the human body in combination with foundation garments or enhanced by multiple layers of surface garments.  Carefully chosen and actively used illustrations are important.  Whether discussing artificial silhouettes such as the Spanish or French farthingale, crinolines, bustles, panniers, corsets, or pourpoints, natural ones due to pregnancy or a physical deformity, or bodies enhanced by garments such as the Roman toga or the cotehardie/houppelande combination, it will be necessary to focus on a narrow aspect of the topic.  For these papers, depth is considerably more important than breadth.

Honors undergraduate students may choose the paper prompt above or the one on the detailed syllabus; in either case the length requirement is 15 pages.

The paper is to be based on research as opposed to personal observation, although "A" papers must contain original thought. All papers must be properly formatted following the MLA style guidelines and be written in the objective third person. The ideal audience for the paper will be reasonably bright fellow students with little background in the history of clothes. For most papers, photocopied illustrations will be a necessary part of the final product (and do not count as part of the text requirement). It is my understanding that fair use means that photocopied and properly cited illustrations for classroom use are allowed under current copyright laws.

The Internet is a popular resource, but you must be cautious because much of the material available about costume history is on pages maintained as a hobby. Avoid using commercial sites and secondary (or tertiary) sources. If you use the World Wide Web at all, look for sites provided by research libraries and museums and those which credit an author. Sites labeled "com" are rarely acceptable; those labeled "edu" or "gov" or "org" are generally more reliable. Databases and resources (including books and articles.essays) obtained via electronic means instead of via print are acceptable with the method for viewing the material cited, per MLA guidelines, for example print or web. See http://style.mla.org/.

Plagiarism and Honor Code:  All exams and written work must be submitted with a statement that you have complied with the requirements of the Honor Code in all aspects of the work.  Details can be found at http://instrument.unc.edu.

Title IX Resources: Any student who is impacted by discrimination, harassment, interpersonal (relationship) violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, or stalking is encouraged to seek resources on campus or in the community. Please contact the Director of Title IX Compliance (Adrienne Allison – Adrienne.allison@unc.edu), Report and Response Coordinators in the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office (reportandresponse@unc.edu), Counseling and Psychological Services (confidential), or the Gender Violence Services Coordinators (gvsc@unc.edu; confidential) to discuss your specific needs. Additional resources are available at safe.unc.edu.

Note: If it becomes necessary to change the syllabus, advance notification will be provided.