Type:
Lecture
Date:
April 15, 2021
Location:
Virginia, United States
Subject Fields:
African History / Studies, Arabic History / Studies, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, South Asian History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies
The next talk of the IOW Material Histories hosted by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University is on Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 12pm EST. It is titled "Weaving Connections Across the Western Indian Ocean in the Nineteenth Century."
In this talk, Dr. Sarah Fee complicates the conventional wisdom that, in the nineteenth century, regional handcrafted textiles circulation in western India, southern Arabia, and eastern Africa were obliterated by industrial imitations imported from Europe. Her study of the precise textile types in play at the time reveals a different story. By combining studies of objects, archival evidence, and terminologies as well as consultations with contemporary practitioners, Dr. Fee's research suggests that many weavers and traditions innovated and flourished (and several new ones rose) in the nineteenth century. Focusing especially on cloth consumption in eastern Africa, Fee identifies the handcrafted textiles that defined luxury until the final decades of the 1800s.
For more information and to register for the talk, please visit our website. Please contact Deepthi Murali at dmurali2@gmu.edu if you have any questions.
Contact Info:
Deepthi Murali, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
George Mason University
Contact Email: