ARTH 4855/ 6855 Threads of Consequence: Textiles in South and Southeast Asia (ASIAN 4487/6644, VISST 4855/6855)
***PT - IN PERSON at the Johnson Museum UNTIL THANKSGIVING BREAK***
K. McGowan
W 12:40- 2:35 ***Tentative***
by permission
From boldly patterned cotton mantles to simple working garments, sumptuous silks to embroidered story cloths encircling shrines -- textiles play a salient role in the ceremonial and ritual life of many Asian societies. This seminar explores how patterned cloths serve as a symbolic medium, functioning on multiple levels of understanding and communication. As spun, dyed and woven threads of consequence, textiles can be seen to enter into all phases of social, economic, political, religious, and performance processes, often assuming unusual properties and attributes. As bearers of talismanic messages, signifiers of rank, and as the recipients of influences from maritime trade and touristic demand, textiles will be read between the folds of complex exchange mechanisms in Southeast Asia.
