Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 July 24

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July 24

Grass skirt

The article Grass skirt is not good. I am trying to find scholarly articles that talk about the garment in detail including use by other people group besides tourist-baiting hula dancers. KAVEBEAR (talk) 06:22, 24 July 2018 (UTC)

There's so little information there it could almost be merged into and redirected to Hula. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:26, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

That would be a really bad merge. Hula is specifically Polynesian. Grass skirts are international. Andy Dingley (talk) 20:06, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

Even with additional content it is a generic term that displaces cultural identity and is not encyclopedic.--Mark Miller (talk) 23:55, 26 July 2018 (UTC)

Lots of shorter references, no luck with an in-depth look yet. But maybe try:

• World Clothing and Fashion: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Social Influence 2015
• Encyclopedia of National Dress: Traditional Clothing around the World 2013
• Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society: An Encyclopedia 2015

Specific cultures:

• Botswana traditional dress: past, present and future
• The Lancet 1983 - Grass skirts are a health hazard in Papua New Guinea
• Serial verb constructions in Kilivila c. 2001 - description of making a grass skirt in Papua New Guinea
• Textile Society of America Symposium 2008 - southern Andes
• Clothing the Pacific 2003
• The Art of Clothing: A Pacific Experience 2014 - includes description of a plaited version seen by crew of the Endeavour
• University of Canterbury thesis -- traditional Maori dress as seen in old pictures

Possibly relevant for the "See Also" section: Kiekie (clothing) and/or Ta'ovala. I haven't found terms in Setswana or Zulu or other cultures with grass skirts but maybe someone will! 70.67.222.124 (talk) 20:42, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

All of these are either passing mentions or use the phrase as a generic term.--Mark Miller (talk) 23:58, 26 July 2018 (UTC)

• Now listed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Grass skirt Andy Dingley (talk) 00:37, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

Thank you.--Mark Miller (talk) 01:01, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

• Kudos to the ref desk, since lots of people improved the article. 70.67.222.124 (talk) 17:44, 1 August 2018 (UTC)