{"id":6538,"date":"2023-11-29T10:38:11","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T08:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/?p=6538"},"modified":"2024-11-27T17:30:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T15:30:39","slug":"appel-de-propositions-de-chapitres-call-for-chapters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ifas.org.za\/research\/uncategorized\/appel-de-propositions-de-chapitres-call-for-chapters\/","title":{"rendered":"Appel \u00e0 propositions de chapitres \/ Call for chapters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Weaving Histories from Below: Needlework in Africa and the writing of gendered and subaltern histories<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We are developing\na volume on needlework and the writing of gendered and subaltern histories, and\nare calling for chapter contributions. We already have excellent submissions on\nSouth Africa but are looking for chapters on needlework from elsewhere on the\nAfrican continent.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim of the proposed volume is to reflect on how needlework can offer new critical perspectives from which to write gendered and subaltern histories. Here \u201cneedlework\u201d is being used to refer to a broad set of practices, including, for example, sewing, textile-making, fashion, embroidery, beadwork, weaving, tapestry making, spinning and yarning, wirework, knitting, and crochet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four\nbroad threads of interest that have shaped our interest in needlework\u2019s\nhistorical and expressive possibilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, the deep\nbiases and lacunae within the colonial and post-colonial archives tend to pose\nchallenges in accessing the voices of subaltern communities. Black women, who\nhave historically been triply marginalised on the basis of race, class and\ngender, often remain invisible in such records. Understood in light of this\nmarginalisation, needlework has potential to yield insights about those whose\nperceptions might otherwise be unheard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly,\nneedlework has provided a means for bearing witness or for the expression of\ntrauma and the representation of events of momentous import. Artists in Africa\n\u2013 like those elsewhere \u2013 have responded to the precedent of the Bayueux\nTapestry <\/em>(which recorded events leading up to the Norman conquest of\nEngland in 1066) by representing significant events that have shaped African\nhistories and people\u2019s lives. But women have also used the medium to reflect on\ntheir everyday experiences or on their personal challenges and insights.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirdly,\nneedlework has been used by many African women (and men) to navigate between\ntradition and modernity, and to negotiate identities in a transforming world\nshaped by capitalism and migrant labour. Religion has had impact on needlework\nalso. For example, Christian missionaries and their teachings have historically\nhad impact on dress as well as gendered understandings of sewing as women\u2019s\nwork. Understood in this light, needlework is a marker of historical processes\nand how they have been negotiated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourthly,\nembroidery has enabled agency. This is not simply through the many self-help\nprojects and collectives deploying needlework that have been set up to generate\nan income but also through its being deployed as an expressive medium by those\noutside the mainstream artworld.  At the\nsame time, artists working in mainstream art contexts have recognised in\nneedlework possibilities for engaging powerfully and subversively with gendered\nnorms and constructs of femininity as well as questions of identity and belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proposals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We welcome proposals for <\/em>chapters of 6000 words<\/strong> (inclusive of notes and references) on needlework from anywhere in Africa (except South Africa, which is already represented) with a focus on one or more of the following themes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n