Center on Religion & the Professions

Improving religious literacy among professionals.

Textiles: Recent research

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  • Holscher, Kathleen. “Contesting the Veil in America: Catholic Habits and the Controversy over Religious Clothing in the United States.” Journal of Church and State. Published online, Feb. 2011.
  • Witcher, Brittany, “Identity and Fashion: A Look at Jordanian Christian Women and How Their Identity is Portrayed Through Their Clothing.” ISP Collection. 2010.

Textiles: Articles

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  • Picton, John. “Cloth And The Corpse In Ebira.” Textile: The Journal Of Cloth & Culture 7.3 (2009): 296-313. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Jan. 2012.
  • Penelope B. Drooker, et al. “The Provenance And Use Of Etowah Palettes.” American Antiquity 76.1 (2011): 81-106. America: History & Life. Web. 19 Jan. 2012.
  • “Producing Father Baker: Material and Visual Practices of Making a Saint” by Heather A. Hartel. Material Religion. Vol. 2, No. 3 (2006): 320-48.
  • “Valued Amish Possessions: Expanding Material Culture and Consumption” by Bruce M. Tharp. Journal of American Culture. Vol. 30, No. 1 (2007): 38-53.
  • “Yoruba Religious Textiles” by Norma H. Wolff. African Arts. Vol. 39, No. 4 (2006): 12-93.
  • “Vestments are more than just clothes for the pope” by David Gibson. The Star-Ledger, April 13, 2008.
  • “The Coptic textiles in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland” by Anna
  • Kadzik-Bartoszewska. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The 58th Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt, Wyndham Toledo Hotel, Toledo, Ohio, Apr 18, 2007.
  • “Common thread” by Johanna D. Poblete. BusinessWorld. Jan. 28, 2009.
  • “Threads of tradition ‘Sanctuary’ exhibits the brilliant variety of clothing from the Muslim world” by Sebastian Smee. The Boston Globe, Jan. 2, 2009.
  • Hartel, Heather A. “Producing Father Baker: Material and Visual Practices of Making a Saint.” Material Religion. Vol. 2, No. 3 (2006): 320-48.
  • Tharp, Bruce M. “Valued Amish Possessions: Expanding Material Culture and Consumption.” Journal of American Culture. Vol. 30, No. 1 (2007): 38-53.
  • Wolff, Norma H. “Yoruba Religious Textiles.” African Arts. Vol. 39, No. 4 (2006): 12-93.

Textiles: Books

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  • Islam and the Veil: Theoretical and Regional Contexts. Theodore Gabriel and Rabiha Hannan. Continuum, 2011.
  • Medieval fabrications: dress, textiles, clothwork, and other cultural imaginings. E. Jane Burns. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  • Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (Ten-volume set). Berg Publishing. 2010.
  • Woven Wonder: The Tradition of Indian Textiles. AshaRani Mathur. Rupa & Co, 2002.
  • Weaving, Veiling and Dressing: Textiles and Their Metaphors in the Late Middle Ages. Kathryn M. Rudy. Brepols Publishers, 2007.
  • Five Generations of Indonesian Textiles. Ruth Barnes and Mary Hunt Kahlenberg (eds.). Prestel USA, 2010.
  • Ecclesiastical Dress in the Medieval Near East. Karel C. Innemee. Brill Academic Pub, 1997.
  • Designing Ecclesiastical Stitched Textiles. Beryl Dean. Search Press(UK), 1993.
  • Shaker Textile Arts. Beverly Gordon. UPNE, 1980.
  • Quilts and Women of the Mormon Migrations. Mary Bywater Cross. Thomas Nelson, 1997.
  • Clothed in Integrity: Weaving Just Cultural Relations and the Garment Industry. Barbara Paleczny. Canadian Corp. Studies in Religion, 2000.
  • Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity. Doran H. Ross, et all. UCLA, 1998.
  • Silk and religion: an exploration of material life and the thought of people, AD 600-1200. Xinru Liu. Oxford University Press US, 1998.
  • The Islamic Modern Dress. M. Mutahari. Kazi Publications (3rd ed.), 2007.
  • Undressing religion: commitment and conversion from a cross-cultural perspective. Linda B. Arthur. Berg Publishers, 2000.
  • Textiles Today: A Global Survey of Trends and Traditions. Chloë Colchester. Thames & Hudson, 2007.

Textiles: Case studies

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  • Adegbite, Stephen Akinade. “Factors influencing technology innovations in the indigenous textile weaving industry in southwestern Nigeria.” International Journal of Technology, Policy & Management. Vol. 11, No. 2 (2011): 155-72.
  • Chi, Ting. “Building a sustainable supply chain: an analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the Chinese textile and apparel industry.” Journal of the Textile Insitute. Vol. 102, No. 10 (2011): 837-48.

Textiles: About the discipline

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Clothing – both in the United States and other cultures – is often dictated or influenced by religious belief. Understanding religious beliefs can help a distributor or designer work within those social mores on a local or global scale while also creating a product that is unique and worth buying. Some religions might object to clothing made with certain types of fibers, whereas others might criticize the way it is worn. A background in religion helps a person or company in this field navigate those issues and ensure long-term profitability and distribution goals as they seek to bring a brand into the market.  [Read more…]