A Textile History of Atlantic Slavery

Catalog description

This class explores the experiences, politics, and cultures of enslaved African and African-descended people through clothing and fashion. As a historical source, textiles reveal things that might otherwise remain obscure in the documentary record. Students will engage material culture methodologies to consider the multiple stories that might be told through a particular fabric or garment. The course will explore recent scholarship about slavery in the Caribbean, South America, and particularly the United States to recognize the role of clothing and textiles in enslaved people’s concurrent struggles for self-liberation and self-fashioning in the face of horrific violence. This course presumes no background knowledge in African American history or material culture studies. And while students are not expected to have crafting expertise, such knowledge (e.g., weaving, sewing, knitting, dyeing) is certainly welcome as we undertake experiential research into various fiber arts.