Cloth and Human Experience

by Annette B. Weiner (Editor), Jane Schneider (Editor)

Cloth and Human Experience explores a wide variety of cultures and eras, discussing production and trade, economics, and symbolic and spiritual associations.

Genres: Anthropology, History, Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Yaaresse · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the subtitle indicates, it's a bit academic for real pleasure reading unless one is really into textile economics and anthropology research of the mid-20th century. There's a habit many academics have of telling you what they are about to tell you, telling you, then telling you what they just told you. Works in academic journals far better than in books for the general public.

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 5 out of 5]

The introduction was useful for my purposes as a nice articulation of the sociological importance of cloth at various times and places. The variety was tremendous -- different kinds of fabric as transmitters of wealth on Pacific Islands, mulberry and other fiber-based fabrics made by minority ethnic groups in what is now Japan, and how those were assimilated into the empire; the ways in which Sikh dress was shaped by the British colonization of India.

[Amie]

My Professor, Dr. Pat Darish, wrote and exellent chapter titled "Dressing for the Next Life: Raffia Textile Production and Use among the kuba of Zaire.

[Robert Rauschenberg]

Recommended by Levon Kafafian (Fringe Society).