Afrikan Textiles: Reclaiming Stolen Histories, Identities, and Technologies through Dress Practices

Afrikan Textiles: Reclaiming Stolen Histories, Identities, and Technologies through Dress Practices

Zingha Foma (History, UCSB)
April 26, 2017/5:00 PM
McCune Conference Room, 6020 HSSB

In this talk-showcase, Zingha Foma will present her research project entitled “Afrikan Textiles: Reclaiming Stolen Histories, Identities, and Technologies through Dress Practices.” Informed by historical research, Zingha argues that Afrikan textile production and dress practices are crucial modes for self-liberation. Currently focused on West Afrikan textiles before European colonization, she demonstrates that Afrikan dress practices are a significant text for understanding Afrikan socio-political histories and identities, and histories of science and technology. Her core research interest is Afrikan self-liberation which, in this case, she articulates through scholarly research and practical innovation. Zingha puts her knowledge from historical research to practical use by designing unique items of clothing that she wears every day. She will talk about her research and showcase her creations.

Born in West Africa, Zingha Foma is a third-year undergraduate student in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is actively engaged in academic and administrative leadership roles at UCSB. Zingha is a key undergraduate member of the IHC African Studies Research Focus Group. She is the Co-chair of the Black Students Union and also of the Multi-Cultural Center, and she is involved with the Pan-African Students Union (PASU). Her selection to become a McNair Scholar has been an acknowledgement of her budding scholarship. Zingha sits on the UCSB Student Fees Advisory Committee as the Vice-chair, and she works with the Education Opportunity Program in her capacity as the African Diasporic Cultural Resource Center Mentor. Zingha’s quest for an intersection between her academic life and self-development is in part represented on her website: Zinghafoma.com.

Sponsored by the IHC’s African Studies RFG, the Dept. of Theater and Dance, and Paul Spickard.