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Skilled immigrants in Textiles and Fashion Industries
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Description
Shortlisted for the Association of Dress Historians Book of the Year Award 2025
With contributions from leading experts, this edited collection presents original research on the skills brought by immigrant communities to the textile and fashion industries, from the early modern to postmodern periods in Asia and the Islamic World, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Manufacturing of textiles and apparel is arduous work, which historically depended on skilled artisans, inexpensive labor, and the introduction of labor-saving technology. Immigrant communities supplied much of the work force, bringing their own skill sets to new locations, leading to the development of new manufacturing centers and an increase in both production and technical expertise. Throughout the volume, the role of migration and immigrant involvement in manufacturing is also examined in relation to trade, politics, and socio-religious circumstances prompting relocation.
Deconstructing the question of provenance by examining the cultural identity of migrant populations, the research brings to light ongoing dilemmas and practices of diaspora communities. By analyzing material, mythical, and technical aspects of textile and apparel production, contributors create a new narrative about textile- and garment-making as a collective endeavor, requiring diversity of skill and methodology to thrive.
Table of Contents
Part One: Introduction
1. A Brief History of Textile Production and Trade – Nazanin Hedayat Munroe, NYC College of Technology, City University of New York, USA
Part Two: Imported Myths, Imported Moths: Silk Production Across Asia
2. Histories of Silken Skills: Immigrant Sericulturalists in Early Modern South Asia – Sylvia Houghteling, Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA
3. Prophets and Caterpillars: The Story of Job and the Social Mobility of Silk Workers and Weavers in the Early Modern Islamic World – Nader Sayadi, University of Rochester, New York, USA
Part Three: Imported Skills: Weaving Specialists Go Global
4 Master Craftsmen in Migration: Safavid Silk Weavers in Mughal India – Nazanin Hedayat Munroe, NYC College of Technology, City University of New York, USA
5. Weaving Andean Textiles on Islamic Looms: The Importation of Skilled Weavers in the Colonial Andes – Maria Madison Smith, Syracuse University, New York, USA
Part Four: Imported Labor: Enslaved and Immigrant Workers in America
6. Clothing the Black Body in Slavery: Stolen Lives and Imported Labor – Wanett Clyde, NYC College of Technology, City University of New York, USA
7. How the Other Half Works: Perceptions and Realities of Immigrant Labor in the New York Apparel Industry – Nazanin Hedayat Munroe, NYC College of Technology, City University of New York, USA
Part Five: Imported Culture: Textile as Tradition in the Diaspora
8. Silk Weaving in the Cambodian Refugee Crisis and Diaspora: Displaced Practice and Identities in the Post-Khmer Rouge Era – Magali An Berthon, Center for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
9. The Evolution of an Identity: Tracing the Trajectory of Sindhi Ajrak across the India–Pakistan Border – Pragya Sharma, Indian Institute of Art and Design, New Delhi, India
Conclusion
Glossary of Textile Terms
References
Index
Product details
| Published | Aug 21 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Paperback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 272 |
| ISBN | 9781350273276 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Visual Arts |
| Illustrations | 16 color and 25 bw illus |
| Dimensions | 9 x 6 inches |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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