Centre for Textile Research (CTR), University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Three days of Indo-Danish textile conference in Delhi followed by a lecture and study tour in India, October 2012
In October 2012 CTR goes on a 10 day lecture and study tour to India. The aim of the tour is the exchange of scholarly information on the study of historical textiles with researchers in India, visits to textile crafts projects, and to host conferences in Delhi with seminars and workshops, and to plan future collaboration projects. The conferences will consist of papers by CTR experts, other Danish scholars from the National Museum and Designmuseum Danmark, European, Chinese and American scholars as well as a number of Indian academics from JNU, Delhi University, The Indian National Museum, the Tapi Collection (amongst others) on various topics related to textile research.
On the 16th of October CTR will be at Jawarhalal Nehru University participating in a one-day conference on 18th century textiles and the trade between India and Europe, arranged by colleagues in the Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences. On the 17th of October the conference will change venue to the India International Centre where the topic of this day’s conference will be international research on archaeology. In the afternoon there will be a conservation workshop in collaboration with Indira Ghandi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). On the 18th of October CTR has been invited by the Ministry of Textiles to visit the Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair in Delhi. The fair is hosted by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts and promotes traditional craftsmanship of India.
CTR will furthermore meet with textile experts in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Surat and Varanasi.
On the 19th of October there will be a visit to the Bestseller Fund’s Varanasi Weavers and Button Project in Varanasi to be acquainted with traditional textile crafts. On the 21st of October the CTR group will visit the Calico Museum in Ahmedabad. The Museum has its focus on historical and technical study of Indian handicraft and industrial textiles. 22nd of October the tour will most likely continue in Surat where there will be a visit to the Tapi Collection (Textiles and Art of the People of India). The collection has a large collection of rare Kashmir shawls and Mochi embroideries as well as many other historical textiles used for dress and interior decoration.
Research subjects for the conferences and after meetings during the stay:
- old Indian/Vedic/Sanskrit textile terminologies.
- history of textile dyeing.
- textile conservation.
- the methodology and analysis of archaeological materials and contexts.
- ancient textile craft and fibre procurement studies.
- archaeological Indian key sites from the Bronze and Iron Ages.
- archaeometry.
- isotopic tracing.
- exchange of laboratory practices and methodologies in the field of archaeometry.
- cooperation on master level studies and PhD level courses between European and Indian universities in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
- history of textile production and trade with Indian textiles to Europe and other European colonies in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
These efforts to collaborate on a high scientific level with researchers and institutions in India are all part of CTR’s on-going research effort called Global Textile Encounters. This will result in the popular anthology Global Textile Encounters with contributions from scholars in India, China, Europe, the USA and Australia. The book will be published in English in New Delhi and in Chinese in Shanghai in 2013.
The conference and the study tour are financed partly by the Eliteforskprisen received by Marie-Louise Nosch in 2009, internationalisation funding from University of Copenhagen based on participation in EU collaborations and by the participants themselves.
Contact details :
Annette Borrell
The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research
The SAXO Institute, Univ. of Copenhagen
Njalsgade 76, room 16.2.7 2300 Copenhagen S
Email : [email protected] Tel. +45 35329463
