Reviews
"Dressing from birth through death in spectacular colors, textiles, and accessories from across the world, the Kalabari of the Niger river delta have a long and changing history of incorporating global influences into their lives. Representing team efforts of Joanne B. Eicher and colleagues from Africa and elsewhere through more than half a century of dedicated scholarship, this finely-honed collection turns previous publications from scattered sources about cultural authentication into a cornucopia of riches. Textile scholars, art historians, and everyone interested in dress-cultures within and beyond Africa and the diaspora will revel in this books' in-depth observations."—Karen Tranberg Hansen, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University
"Focusing on the little-known influence of the Kalabari people of Nigeria in the Atlantic world, this book challenges scholars to reassess their understanding of Art and especially textiles vis-à-vis their technology, regional trade, and aesthetics in Africa. It also addresses the place of textiles in the construction of political and gender identities. Most importantly, the contributors to this volume have taken precise aim at the central problem of revealing fairly and accurately the inseparability of aesthetic and social experiences of post-colonial Africa and new idioms of artistic expression in Africa and the African diaspora. Besides its obvious usefulness to students in art history, this important book will speak to a wider audience of scholars in the African humanities and social sciences."—Rowland Abiodun, John C. Newton Professor of the History of Art and Black Studies, Amherst College
