As an archaeologist with experience in textile craft, I have developed a critical and analytical perspective for how the dynamic interplay of style and culture is displayed through our daily applications of textiles. From its vibrant colors and contrasting patterns to specific designs and weaving techniques, African textiles relay visual messages pertaining to traditions and values sustained throughout the African diaspora. On the one hand, these textiles allow Black Americans to reconnect with their identity. On the other hand, this can sometimes reinforce the commodification and politicization of global Blackness. This thesis engages with contemporary artists, fashion designers, and African and African American studies scholars to critique the gradual aestheticization of a universalized Black identity operating through the rearticulations and appropriations of particularly West African textiles and their associated traditions and cultural significances. This paper is intended to encourage Black folks particularly from the western world to rethink what they seek to (re)claim as their own and to acknowledge the power in attempting to aestheticize Africanity in popular culture and art industries specifically in the production and applications of Afrocentric textile traditions.
Gillian Smith (Mon,) studied this question.