Islamicate Textiles: Fashion, Fabric, and Ritual

Textiles and clothing are interwoven with Islamic culture. In Islamicate Textiles, readers are taken on a journey from Central Asia to Tanzania to uncover the central roles that textiles play within Muslim-majority communities. This thematically arranged book sheds light on the traditions, rituals and religious practices of these regions, and the ways in which each one incorporates materials and clothing. Drawing on examples including Iranian lion carpets and Arabic keffiyeh, Faegheh Shirazi frames these textiles and totemic items as important cultural signifiers that, together, form a dynamic and fascinating material culture. Like a developing language, this culture expands, bends and develops to suit the needs of new generations and groups across the world. The political significance of Islamicate textiles is also explored: Faegheh Shirazi's writing reveals the fraught relationship between the East – with its sought-after materials and much-valued textiles – and the European countries that purchased and repurposed these goods, and lays bare the historical and contemporary connections between textiles, colonialism, immigration and economics. Dr Shirazi also discusses gender and how textiles and clothing are intimately linked with sexuality and gender identity.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Textiles and Symbols: A Mélange of Cultural Signifiers Kanga: Cloth with a Message Lion of Persia: pre-Islamic to Contemporary Iran Felt and Fabrics under Domination: Central Asia Ram's Horn: Central Asia and Iran 2. Talismanic Textiles: Gender, Status, and the Supernatural Protecting Fiber and Livelihood: the Ladakh Blessed Looms, Blessed Fibers Sacred Colors: Red, White, and Light Blue Beyond the Loom Amulets: Protection Against the Unseen Inscribed Talismanic Shirts Gendered Looms 3. The Politicization of Textiles: Colonialism to the Present India and Cotton: Rejecting Colonial Rule United We Stand: India's Muslim Weavers West African Wax Cloth Calico: the Forbidden Indian Cotton Indian Cloth in Southeast Asia Keffiyeh: from Functional to Symbolic The Russian Colonial Effect on Central Asian Textiles Russian Political Symbolism on Woven Carpets 4. Textiles and Crisis: Displacement & Occupation Rohingya of Burma Syria Iraq Afghanistan Siddis, Afro Indians Pakistan/India separation: Becoming two nations Indonesia Palestine 5. Textiles and Death Rituals in Islamicate Societies Burial Garment for Muslims: the Kafan Piecing Together the Past: Tiraz and Halaqa Tomb Covers for the Prophet Muhammed: Kiswa Tomb Covers: Signifiers of Status Indian and South Asian Tomb Covers Haji Ali Dargah Ajmer Sharif Dargah Egyptian Funeral Tents: The Art of Khayamiya Conclusion

About the Author :
Faegheh Shirazi is a Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, USA. She is the author of Brand Islam: The Marketing and Commodification of Piety (2016), Velvet Jihad: Muslim Women's Quiet Resistance to Islamic Fundamentalism (2009), The Veil Unveiled: Hijab in Modern Culture (2001) and the Editor of Muslim Women in War and Crisis: From Reality to Representation(2010). Her research interests include textiles, dress, gender identity discourse, and material culture in the Middle East; the meanings of veiling; rituals and rites of passage as they relate to material culture.

Review :
Engaging. Informative. Sedulous. Reflects Islam's wide-ranging and profound impact on fabric, fashion and ritual beyond the Middle East. Stunning images illuminate every chapter and with detailed analysis, this book shifts and deepens our understanding of what the West understands of Islamic textiles and cultures. Essential reading. This book illuminates fascinating aspects of cultural and religious signifiers in textiles and dress with themed chapters, linking together local practices with broader traditions throughout the Islamic world. An excellent addition to reference library collections and reading lists for graduate seminars in global dress.