GRANTS FOR RETIREES

2021-2022 PDGR Abstracts

Joanne B. Eicher, Regents Professor Emerita College of Design, Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, University of Minnesota, St Paul Campus.

Color images for book, Global Trade, Cultural Authentication, and the Kalabari of the Niger Delta. With aid from a 2015 UMRA grant requesting funds to prepare images for a book, I have completed a 100,000-word manuscript centered on the global trade and textiles of the Kalabari people of Nigeria. The book includes chapters from my academic publications, authored or co-authored, plus chapters by nine former advisees from the University of Minnesota. Together, we provide an in-depth examination of the Kalabari people’s long-time global connectedness and its influence on their textile traditions involving dress, including an Indian imported cloth (madras) which Kalabari artisans re-design by a process of subtracting threads. My contract with the Indiana University Press for a 2022 publication requires a $4,000 subsidy to support the cost of 80, full-color images for the book’s first print run. Since the book is visually focused, these images are crucial. With its African Expressive Cultures series, the Indiana University Press is the premiere publisher of African arts and history.


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