Threading the Needle

“The power of this book is not only its ethnographic thickness but also the visual richness that accompanies the different sections of the book and highlights the voices of the informants. Accompanying weavers, embroiderers, and artisans through fairs, workshops, and daily life, Nicholas captures the complexities of their struggles and successes, revealing a multifaceted social history.“—Aomar Boum, author of Undesirables: A Holocaust Journey to North Africa“Nicholas’s analytical prowess is evident in her use of the metaphor of “double weave” cloth to highlight the colonial residues that emerge in present day development schemes and state-led promotions of craft and tradition. Bringing together careful archival research and long-term ethnographic engagement with weavers and embroiders, the book contributes powerfully to our understanding of how heritage, tradition, and craft emerged as colonial artifacts.“—Kedron Thomas, author of Regulating Style: Intellectual Property Law and the Business of Fashion in Guatemala

Claire Nicholas is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Assistant Curator of Ethnology at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History at the University of Oklahoma.