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In 2019 the Anti-Defamation League’s added to its Hate on Display^TM Hate Symbols Database a hand gesture “in which the thumb and index finger touch while the other fingers of the hand are held outstretched.”[1] Having historically broadly communicated assent or “okay,” the gesture had recently been appropriated by white supremacists to communicate “white power.” What had previously been a clearly communicated embodied symbol had become contextually disrupted.

Recognizing that the readability of gestures is temporally and geographically situated and may be specific to cultural or social groups, this session seeks papers that variously investigate represented gestural expressions. Considerations of period gesture, relationships between gesture, dress, and etiquette, or reflections on the relationship between displayed bodily comportment and subjectivity are equally welcome. How, what, and to whom does the tilt of a head, the manipulation of an object or aspect of dress, or the extension of a leg communicate? This session equally welcomes papers that explore these questions from the perspectives of archaeology, anthropology, art history, or performance art.

[1] “Okay Hand Gesture,” ADL’s Hate on Display^TM Hate Symbols Database, accessed April 24, 2023, https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/okay-hand-gesture.