tribaltextiles.info

An incredible Ph.D. dissertation by Ho Zhaohua entitled, Gifts to Dye for: Cloth and Person among Shidong Miao in Guizhou Province, was completed in January of this year. The culminaton of several years study both in the field and out of the Shidong section of the Fu Jen University Collection - this dissertation is ABSOLUTELY incredible!!! At more than five hundred pages long it covers in extensive detail cosmology, rituals, history, weaving and dyeing, embroidery, socialty and reproduction and how textiles are used at every stage of human life amongst the Shidong. My understanding of my own collection has leapt in the past three days of reading.
This work is destined to be recognised as the DEFINITIVE work to which all will refer. Written in English, beautifully illustrated, and bringing her expertise as a textile specialist to the field of anthropology, Ho Zhaohua has broken open (with her grasp of the Miao language) a multitude of layers in the understanding of Shidong Miao textiles.

Iain

Has the Ph.D been published so that we can get hold of it? Are you able to give us any pointers? It sounds amazing. So many of us have seen Shidong textiles and many have them in their collection and would so very much like to get beneath the surface of them. They have attracted collectors and photographers for so many years.

Thanks,

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Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource