Disguise

This thesis aims to analyze the fedayee practice of disguise in the context of violence
between the years of 1890 and 1910 in the Northeast parts of the Ottoman Empire. It
mainly focuses on the practice’s itself and the reason behind it. Making use of
photographs, this thesis also examines the politics of clothing and self-representation.
At this juncture, objects in photographs that were intentionally placed fallacious
and delusive are examined to clarify possible fedayee clothes which are also
analyzed. In order to make sense of the penchant of Armenian fedayees for disguise,
this thesis also explores the complexity of Kurdish, Circassian, Georgian, Laz
clothing through photographic evidence.

In the late sixteenth century, the practice of wearing a mask as an object-image carried by a living body underwent an essential renewal. Brought closer to disguise, it deeply impacted the way the people of that time conceived human subjectivity. Using communicational semiotics and cultural and historical anthropology, this paper intends to unmask the processes of this metamorphosis. The analysis of the Balet comique de la Royne (1582) under the veil of a web of images and imagination is applied from the design of the mask to its impersonation. It demonstrates that the reform of the common practices of masking laid on the inclusion of artistic, social and devotional practices and theories under the norms of clothing device. At the end of the sixteenth century, the wearing of an image on the body now acts as a mask. It converts, models on and sublimates the masqué. Conferring to them the status of the image, it carries them away in a new kind of subjectivity, where the body is vested with the functions of the image, and becomes a work of art dedicated to its character.

In forensic investigations, disputed documents are usually encountered in various cases of forgery and disguise. The examination of disguised body writing deals with the analysis of documents for handwriting or script having a wilful modification of a person’s original writing for the purpose of concealing his/her identity. The analysis of such cases of disguised writing involves the identification and examination of class and individual handwriting characteristics to establish the identity of the author and to determine the source of the handwriting. The objective of the present work was to study a few cases of master disguised handwriting and to compare them based on particular individual characteristics to establish the identity of the writer. After the proper analysis, it was found that even the cases of master disguise will possess some aspects through which the authenticity of the document and the identity of the writer can be scientifically established.

A la fin du XVIe siècle, le nouveau rapport au geste du corps et aux gestes de son corps comme langage des émotions et présence dans le monde réagence les composantes de l’identité et de sa visibilité « publique » sous un masque feint et ambigu amorçant la genèse d’une nouvelle sorte de déguisement.

Il s’agira de démasquer ces gestes (dis)simulés dans leur énonciation et de réfléchir sur leur rôle dans la reformation du cadre de l’expérience de la visibilité de l’image identitaire (de soi) au XVIe siècle. Trois typologies seront abordées : l’ambiguïté du geste, le masque de la gestuelle et la reprise de gestes. Je tenterai de les articuler à la notion tout aussi ambiguë de (dis)simulation pour comprendre en quoi et pourquoi les gestes au XVIe siècle peuvent entrer dans la catégorie du déguisement selon leur cadre. Autrement dit, je me poserai la question « à qui appartient le geste performé et agi » : au personnage ou à la personne masquée ?

Cette réflexion qui entendra également faire un état de ma recherche en cours permettra de mieux comprendre ce qui (re)présentait l’identité dans la pensée de l’époque et les mécanismes (in)conscients et sociaux de sa visibilité, inscrivant l’homme renaissant dans un monde résolument « moderne ».

Présenté dans le cadre du séminaire Gestes ambigus, séminaire accueilli par le CEHTA (centre d'histoire et de théorie des arts) /EHESS et coordonné par Valérie Boudier et Anne Creissels (maîtres de conférences en arts plastiques à l'université de Lille 3, membres du CEAC et docteures de l'EHESS en histoire et théorie des arts, chercheures associées au CEHTA), de 17h à 19h dans les locaux du CEHTA, 2 rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris

Cet article veut démonter quelles sont les implications du travestissement par rapport à la performativité des genres dans les parodies d’animatrices québécoises chez le groupe humoristique Rock et Belles oreilles. Il s’agit de penser le travestissement dans la parodie d’animatrices québécoises en tant que reformulation des genres. Afin de montrer les implications du travestissement par rapport à la performativité des genres, l’étude cernera tant l’accentuation, voire l’exagération, des traits féminins : voix, discours, physique et gestes en regard de la distance que creuse le travestissement entre le sujet parodiant et l’objet parodié et, qui plus est, en fonction de l’image que RBO donne du personnage et du stéréotype dont il s’inspire. Les parodies d’animatrices télé québécoises par les membres masculins de Rock et Belles Oreilles proviennent du site officiel du groupe RBO 3.0 (dans «The voûte», hébergé par radio-canada.ca).

Este trabajo proporciona una visión panorámica de los disfraces y los intercambios de género (femenino/masculino) para plantear una tipología compleja del travestismo. La articulación de la identidad sexual está en el imperativo máximo de un ensayo en el que se entrelazan ética y política. Se postula la vestimenta como algo más que accesorio, algo que representa a la persona en tanto es la encrucijada de sus voliciones y de nuestra imagen individual. El travestismo convoca la utopía de la autorreflexividad, la manipulación y la metamorfosis; hace creer en la posibilidad de que, en ese nuevo rostro adoptado, se puede hallar otra existencia, otra identidad mas interesantes. Remodelar el cuerpo sexuado es táctica de una máscara asumida y representada, de tal manera que el travesti masculino lo hace símbolo de su realidad ex-céntrica y exagerada, ya que hiperboliza, en su caso, las marcas de ser mujer. Sin embargo, cabe señalar también la importancia de analizar y observar las diferentes posibilidades de encuadramiento social y los motivos para encubrirse, de gran utilidad para estudiar las marcas del travesti y sus maniobras dentro de una gama de posibilidades y estrategias. De ahí la necesidad de cuestionar, en primer lugar, el estereotipo de identificar el travestismo como una práctica exclusicamente masculina y la de asociarla con la homosexualidad, para plantear esos ámbitos en los que son aceptados, por ejemplo, el de la fiesta popular y el del carnaval, con su noción de regeneración vital y la subversión de lo oficial. Otro elemento sobre el que se llama la atención es la asociación del travestismo con el ser hermafrodita en su afán de mimetizarse en la apariencia del contrario biológico y cultural, con el fin de exorcizar el binarismo de términos irreconciliables y la restauración de plenitud original, ya sea mediante una androginización de la mujer para subrayar sus rasgos masculinos, ya sea con una efebización del modelo de belleza en el hombre para caracterizar la suavidad y la delicadeza corporal.

This paper, presented at the 2014 edition of the Marginalized Mainstream conference, examines the unexpected ways in which Wilde's work, mainly The Picture of Dorian Gray, overlap with works by Bret Easton Ellis, most notably his American Psycho. The paper focuses on the ways in which the protagonists hide in the mainstream of their day, and to what degree their very identities are intertextually/intermedially constructed rather than pre-existent.

List of Illustrations Introduction Part 1: Origins and Evolution Chapter 1: Superman: Codifying the Superhero Wardrobe Physical Labour and the Construction of Masculinity Performance in Combat The Costume as Biography Superman the Brand The Archetype and his Imitators Chapter 2: Identity, Role and The Mask The Mask and Issues of Identity The Identity of the Mask Power, Authority and the Privileged Few Face-ism How Dress Defines Role The Deceit of the Masquerade Chapter 3: Evolution and Adaptation: Form v. Function 'Sucked Into Silliness' Real-life References: The historical and the sporting. Technology and Utility The Pursuit of Credibility: Hyperrealism and assemblage The Decline of the Costume Part 2: Identities and Ideals Chapter 4: Wearing The Flag: Patriotism and globalization Stars and Stripes... and Spandex Conflicted Identities: Nation v. Race Exoticism and Primitivism in Batman Incorporated Chapter 5: Dressing Up, Dressing Down: A Spectacle of Otherness, and the Ordinariness of the Civilian Alter-ego Performing Ordinariness Playing to the Reader Unmasking Clark Kent Self-Objectification Method in the Masquerade Chapter 6: Channelling The Beast Physiognomy and Anthrozoomorphism The Bird Men Ritual and the Animal Spirit Part 3: Harsh Realities Chapter 7: Superheroes and the Fashion of Being Unfashionable Fashion Outsiders The Gender Divide The Cycle of Superhero Fashion Evolution into Eternity Chapter 8: Superhero Cosplay Participatory Fandom / Imaginative Reconstruction 'I'm your biggest fan': Competition and Authenticity Spectatorship and the Cosplay Spectacle Sewing and Making: Masculinity and Manufacture Chapter 9: Real-life Superheroes Masked Vigilantes and The Reality of Costumes Masks and Manifestos Parent Power Part 4: Case Studies Introduction to Case Studies Chapter 10: Watchmen Deconstructing the Costume Men without Humanity Masks without Men Chapter 11: Iron Man Who is Iron Man? Automated Dressing The Hyper-abled Hero Chapter 12: X-Men Uniforms and Unity The Yellow 'X': Marking the Mutant 'Other' Notes Bibliography

In May 2013, the FSB expelled an American diplomat on the grounds that he was spying for the CIA. Listed among the alleged spy’s suspicious possessions were ‘means of altering appearance’. It was later revealed that this disguise kit contained a variety of wigs and sunglasses. These paraphernalia were so ill-fitting that they seemed to belong in a comedy performance, but they provoked some serious debate. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, former CIA operative, Robert Baer, described the thick-rimmed glasses and stick-on moustaches that he and his colleagues had worn to break up facial contours. The aim of these disguises was to make people remember ‘something other than the face’. An individual’s identity is bound up in his or face more so than any other body part. Passport photographs, portraits, and other images related to personal identity, tend to feature the face. It is for this reason that criminal photo-fits tend to feature only the head, and why criminals’ disguises concentrate on concealing the face and head. The problem with any mask or facial disguise is that it immediately marks someone out as a wrong-doer. The mere act of wearing a mask may itself be considered morally questionable, as it is a deception of sorts. The ‘mask has come to connote something disingenuous, something false’. It is overtly a disguise. David Napier observes that it is this sense of an incomplete identity that drives audiences to seek out the secret alternative identity hidden underneath. The mask is ‘known to have no inside’ and this ‘invit[es] the audience to peer behind the mask’. This paper will explore the problem of the mask and its use in disguise. While effective disguise often necessitates the use of a mask (or other artefacts that distort or conceal the face), facial disguises often heighten the observer’s sense of curiosity about the identity beneath. Taking recent and historical examples of physical disguise, the paper will identify why the mask is the cornerstone of disguise, and simultaneously the disguise’s greatest point of vulnerability.Non peer reviewe

List of Illustrations Introduction Part 1: Origins and Evolution Chapter 1: Superman: Codifying the Superhero Wardrobe Physical Labour and the Construction of Masculinity Performance in Combat The Costume as Biography Superman the Brand The Archetype and his Imitators Chapter 2: Identity, Role and The Mask The Mask and Issues of Identity The Identity of the Mask Power, Authority and the Privileged Few Face-ism How Dress Defines Role The Deceit of the Masquerade Chapter 3: Evolution and Adaptation: Form v. Function 'Sucked Into Silliness' Real-life References: The historical and the sporting. Technology and Utility The Pursuit of Credibility: Hyperrealism and assemblage The Decline of the Costume Part 2: Identities and Ideals Chapter 4: Wearing The Flag: Patriotism and globalization Stars and Stripes... and Spandex Conflicted Identities: Nation v. Race Exoticism and Primitivism in Batman Incorporated Chapter 5: Dressing Up, Dressing Down: A Spectacle of Otherness, and the Ordinariness of the Civilian Alter-ego Performing Ordinariness Playing to the Reader Unmasking Clark Kent Self-Objectification Method in the Masquerade Chapter 6: Channelling The Beast Physiognomy and Anthrozoomorphism The Bird Men Ritual and the Animal Spirit Part 3: Harsh Realities Chapter 7: Superheroes and the Fashion of Being Unfashionable Fashion Outsiders The Gender Divide The Cycle of Superhero Fashion Evolution into Eternity Chapter 8: Superhero Cosplay Participatory Fandom / Imaginative Reconstruction 'I'm your biggest fan': Competition and Authenticity Spectatorship and the Cosplay Spectacle Sewing and Making: Masculinity and Manufacture Chapter 9: Real-life Superheroes Masked Vigilantes and The Reality of Costumes Masks and Manifestos Parent Power Part 4: Case Studies Introduction to Case Studies Chapter 10: Watchmen Deconstructing the Costume Men without Humanity Masks without Men Chapter 11: Iron Man Who is Iron Man? Automated Dressing The Hyper-abled Hero Chapter 12: X-Men Uniforms and Unity The Yellow 'X': Marking the Mutant 'Other' Notes Bibliography

La France des guerres de religion fut le théâtre de la rencontre d’un imaginaire, l’Apocalypse, et des images liées à une actualité tragique. Dans cette société en crise, l’imaginaire apocalyptique eut la puissance de modifier la perception de la réalité vécue, réalité de laquelle il avait tiré son potentiel. Dit selon les termes de l’époque, ce « masque » allégorique finit par « déguiser » l’Histoire/histoire qu’il recouvrait. Les notions de « performativité » et d’agentivité vont permettre d’appréhender ces mécanismes qui culminèrent sous le règne de Henri III grâce au terreau idéologique édifié sous son prédécesseur, Charles IX, ainsi investi d’une mission rédemptrice. Il s’agira de les définir en questionnant la puissance de la métaphore apocalyptique à faire (ré)agir l’auditeur-lecteur, tout d’abord à travers l’impact de ses images littéraires sur l’imaginaire royal, puis de l’horizon dévotionnel psychologique grâce auquel elle fait appel à agir, et enfin de la potentialité subversive du détournement de ces mêmes mots et images par la satire et les pamphlets. Par le recouvrement incessant des faits par les imag(inair)es apocalyptiques, cette structure permit l’activation d’une performativité et d’une théâtralité rituelles qui re-façonnèrent une monarchie mise à mal dans sa mission sacrée. Un masque apocalyptique devenu déguisement, entre (dé)voilement et (dis)simulation.

Publié dans la revue en ligne Le Verger, et à télécharger en intégralité sur le site de Cornucopia: http://cornucopia16.com/blog/2017/01/14/appel-a-contribution-le-verger-x-imaginaires-et-representations-de-lapocalypse-a-la-renaissance/

Abstrakt: Jakub Lipski, " WIEK PRZEBRANIA " W POWIEŚCIACH HISTORYCZNYCH PETERA ACKROYDA. PORÓWNANIA 19, 2016. T. XIX. S. 99–113.  Znamienną cechą twórczości Petera Ackroyda jest wyraźne zespolenie powieściopisarstwa z popularną historiografią, czego przejawem jest niezmienne zainteresowanie autora formą powieści historycznej. Teksty, którym poświęcony jest niniejszy artykuł – Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987), The Lambs of London (2004) – podejmują próbę kreatywnej rekonstrukcji niektórych istotnych wydarzeń XVIII wieku. Powracające tematy, typy postaci oraz warstwa ideowa w wymienionych utworach wynikają z koncepcji tego stulecia jako "wieku przebrania" ("the Age of Disguise"). Metafora przebrania trafnie ilustruje specyfikę czasu, w którym delfickie zawołanie "poznaj samego siebie" nabrało nowego wymiaru. Przeprowadzona w artykule analiza, oparta na koncepcjach nowego historyzmu oraz teorii postmodernistycznej powieści historycznej, pokazuje, że Ackroydowska wizja XVIII wieku koresponduje z takim właśnie postrzeganiem tego stulecia.
Abstract: Jakub Lipski, "THE AGE OF DISGUISE' IN PETER ACKROYD'S HISTORICAL NOVELS. "PORÓWNANIA" 19, 2016. Vol. XIX. P. 99–113. Peter Ackroyd's literary output is characterised by a clear interrelationship between fiction and popular historiography. This is best manifested in his unwavering interest in the form of the historical novel. The present article is devoted to the three novels which creatively reconstruct selected events of the eighteenth century: Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987) and The Lambs of London (2004). It is argued that the recurrent themes, characters and ideas result from Ackroyd's understanding of the century as "the Age of Disguise". The metaphor of disguise accurately renders the specificity of the time when the Delphic precept "know then thyself" was taking on a new dimension. Informed by New Historicism and the theory of the postmodern historical novel, the following article demonstrates that Ackroyd's vision of the eighteenth century corresponds with this approach to the period.

Metatheatrical Disguise in Greek Comedy

The aim of this paper is to analyze the use of disguise in the plays of Old Comedy and the way disguise is inextricably interwoven with metatheatre. I  examine a series of examples, focusing on the comic technique of incorporating a play within a play, and argue that comic poets achieve this metadramatic dimension by presenting incomplete disguises on stage. I  especially investigate how the different layers of clothing in a character’s attire provoke laughter and contribute to the self-conscious exploitation of costume and disguise. Two of the examples are selected from among the plays and fragments of Old Comedy: the disguise of Dikaiopolis in Aristophanes’ Acharnians and that of Dionysus in Cratinus’ Dionysalexandros. Aristophanes inserts a parody of Euripides’ Telephus into the comic plot of the Acharnians and marks it as an intradramatic micro-tragedy by combining the comic costume of Dikaiopolis with the tragic one of Telephus. Similarly, in the Dionysalexandros the god of theatre disguises himself as a ram by throwing a fleece over his Dionysian costume. These textual cases will be supplemented with a theatrical scene depicted on an Apulian crater, known as the “Sant’Agata Antigone”; a male comic character is wearing a semi-transparent female robe and about to don a young woman’s mask. In this self-referential vase-painting, the incongruity of a man in female attire exposes the conventional role of costume in drama.

« Eternal painting for ephemeral condition : masquing, disguising and dancing as equivalent of copper painting ? », given at Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, Chicago. Session « Eternal Painting? The Meaning and Materiality of Copper Supports » (Chicago, Mars 31- Avril 1e 2017)
Recent studies have demonstrate that more than eternal medium, copper paintings conceptualy associated the physical support and the narrative subject. The symbolism of copper also relate to the means of its creating i.e. fire.
However, in sixteenth-century, copper paintings seem to be restricted to thematics associated with changing. Two pieces retain my attention : The coral fishing by Jacopo Zucchi (Leopoli, Lviv Picture Art Gallery) and The peasant dance by Brughel (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux). Indeed their subject relate to transforming the self: by masquing the prince and by dancing. I would examine the possible link between the theory of elements involved by the material and the one of humors and their regulation in the narratives and with English miniatures of portraits in masque. I assume that it will lead to a better understanding of what were the effects of using copper in painting in the Renaissance.

ABSTRACT Disguise – the substitution of one identity for another – is a deliberate act of construction and an elimination of self. Through costume, signs of self are concealed and erased, and in their place appears an apparently complete alternative identity. Although dress is typically aspirational, reflecting a desire to imitate those of higher socio-economic status, this article observes that there are occasions on which it is desirable to use costume to reduce status, and to escape the perceived pressures and responsibilities of social or economic power. In trans-status disguise, it is necessary to abandon all outward indicators of individuality and status: to perform ordinariness.Performance of ordinariness is a means to an end: a tool to enable behaviour that would otherwise be inappropriate or impossible. Inspired by Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives, nineteenth-century journalists used costume to experience life in the poorest sections of society with the aim of increasing trans-status empathy. In screen-based narratives, a disguise can often be pivotal to a plot, particularly since, in these primarily visual media, costume is a key identifying feature of any character. Taking as examples, Coming to America, Superman and The Saint, this article observes how costume permits a perceived lowering of status, which in turn enables liberation. In particular, it will propose that there are parallels between the social experiments of nineteenth-century journalists and the fictional narratives of twentieth-century television and cinema.