Art History 290TF - Textiles and Fashion in Africa

By examining textile production (both hand weaving and industrial) and fashion (both streetwear and haute couture), this class investigates questions around cultural exchange, industrialization, and globalization. Students will gain knowledge about the flexibility of taxonomies of art, and they will learn basic analyses of textiles, dress, and fashion as they relate to African and African Diasporic cultures. Among the topics we study: Kente cloth and nationalism; waxprint cloth and globalization; Hip hop music and global fashion; and African fashion and haute couture.