Description
Book SynopsisUntil this century, Northern Nigeria was a major centre of textile production and trade.
Textile Ascendancies examines this dramatic change in textile aesthetics, technologies, and social values in order to explain the extraordinary shift in textile demand, production, and trade.
Trade Review“Textile Ascendancies is an empirically rich, beautifully illustrated collection of essays that explores the meanings, making and trading of cloth in northern Nigeria over more than a century. The collection’s contribution to the history of aesthetics, commodity meanings and commercial transactions in Africa is profound. There is no other book that attempts such an ambitious agenda, exploring the diverse histories of any product over such a long period of time.”
—Laura Fair, Michigan State University
“A detailed African textile history that provides rich insights into the history of handweaving, dyeing, and local aesthetics.”
—Karen Tranberg Hansen, Northwestern University
