| ISBN13: | 9781350291263 |
| ISBN10: | 1350291269 |
| Binding: | Paperback |
| No. of pages: | pages |
| Size: | 234x156 mm |
| Language: | English |
| Illustrations: | 60 colour illus |
| 700 |
Islamicate Textiles
GBP 19.99
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Textiles and clothing are interwoven with Islamic culture. In Islamicate Textiles, readers are taken on a journey from Central Asia to Tanzania to uncover the central roles that textiles play within Muslim-majority communities.
This thematically arranged book sheds light on the traditions, rituals and religious practices of these regions, and the ways in which each one incorporates materials and clothing. Drawing on examples including Iranian lion carpets and Arabic keffiyeh, Faegheh Shirazi frames these textiles and totemic items as important cultural signifiers that, together, form a dynamic and fascinating material culture. Like a developing language, this culture expands, bends and develops to suit the needs of new generations and groups across the world.
The political significance of Islamicate textiles is also explored: Faegheh Shirazi's writing reveals the fraught relationship between the East - with its sought-after materials and much-valued textiles - and the European countries that purchased and repurposed these goods, and lays bare the historical and contemporary connections between textiles, colonialism, immigration and economics. Dr Shirazi also discusses gender and how textiles and clothing are intimately linked with sexuality and gender identity.
Introduction
1. Textiles and Symbols: A Mélange of Cultural Signifiers
Kanga: Cloth with a message
Lion of Persia: From pre-Islamic to contemporary Iran
Felt and fabrics under domination: Central Asia
Ram's horn: Central Asia and Iran
2. Talismanic Textiles: Gender, Status, and the Supernatural
Protecting fiber and livelihood: The Ladakh
Blessed looms, blessed fibers
Sacred colors: Red, white, and light blue
Beyond the loom
Amulets: Protection against the unseen
Inscribed talismanic shirts
Gendered looms
3. The Politicization of Textiles: Colonialism to the Present
India and cotton: rejecting colonial rule
United we stand: India's Muslim weavers
West African wax cloth
Calico: The forbidden African cotton
Indian cloth in Southeast Asia
Keffiyeh: From functional to symbolic
The effect of Russian colonization on Central Asian politics
Tajikistan: Textiles and national branding
Soviet symbols on woven carpets
4. Refugees and Displaced Persons: Textile Signatures
The Siddis of India
Afghan refugee women: Embroidered lives
Weaving and war: Carpets depicting a nation under siege
Iraqi refugees: Textile arts of the past
Syrian and Iraqi refugees: Embroidered quilts and the charuga
Syrian refugees: The Ana collection
Weaving timeless symbols: War's impact on non-Muslim communities
5. Textiles and Death Rituals in Islamicate Societies
The burial garment for Muslims: The kafan
Piecing together the past
Tomb covers for the Prophet Muhammed: Kiswah
Tomb covers: Signifiers or status
Indian and South Asian tomb covers
Egyptian funeral tents: The art of Khayamiya
Conclusion
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
