Textiles as Living Archives

Textile practice is a global cultural medium that carries symbolic and social value and records and transmits collective memories across diverse sociocultural contexts. Drawing on material culture theory and collective memory studies, this study examines how textiles function as memory-bearing forms shaped by sociopolitical conditions. A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O’Malley framework, which consists of five stages: (1) identifying research questions (RQs) based on the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Population–Concept–Context (PCC) framework; (2) identifying relevant literature; (3) selecting studies using PRISMA guidelines; (4) data extraction and charting; and (5) collating, summarizing, and reporting results. Twenty-three articles from five continents were analyzed, revealing recurring patterns in textile–memory interactions, particularly in the contexts of conflict, colonialism, political transition, and cultural preservation. The findings indicate that sociopolitical contexts shape memory construction, negotiation, and sustenance across generations. This study proposes a conceptual framework that positions textiles as a living archive through two interacting dimensions: narrative (history, feminism, mental health, and cosmology) and material (spatial, clothing, and artifactual). These dimensions demonstrate how textiles mediate social experiences and identities as sites for memory production and reinterpretation. Theoretically, this study reframes design by demonstrating that materiality and narrative are inseparable, establishing textiles as active agents in shaping collective memory across temporal and geographic contexts. This advances the design discourse by redefining textiles as dynamic mediators of meaning. Practically, the framework offers a conceptual lens for integrating material exploration with cultural narratives, thereby supporting contextually grounded and socially responsive design practices.