Fashionable Traditions: Asian Handmade Textiles in Motion - Paperback

by Monisha Ahmed (Contribution by), Eriko Aoki (Contribution by), Willemijn de Jong (Contribution by)

Textiles play a decisive role in history: attire not only indicates status, gender, ethnicity, and religion but illustrates how such boundaries are continuously being negotiated, shifted, and recreated. Fashionable Traditions captures the complex reality of Asian handmade textile production and consumption. From traditionalist discourse and cultural authenticity to fashion and market trends, the contributors to this collection demonstrate the multilayered influence of often contradictory forces. In-depth, ethnographic case studies reveal the entangled relationships between local artisans, external interventions, and consumers, while acknowledging the broader frameworks in which such relationships are situated. Together these stories offer a vivid account of the socio-economic, political, and cultural dynamics in various parts of Asia and emphasize that fashion is neither a Western prerogative nor do its roots reside solely in the West.

Author Biography

Ayami Nakatani is professor of cultural anthropology and director of the Discovery Program for Global Learners at Okayama University.