TALK WITH JOHN RYLE: TEXTILES THAT TALK: EAST AFRICAN KANGAS AND THEIR MEANINGS
FOWLER | 11 a.m., Fowler Museum
Kangas are printed cotton fabrics worn by women in East Africa since the 18th century. Kangas are characterized by a distinctive three-element design: a decorative border; a central panel with recurring motifs; and an inscription. The designs embrace motifs from a global range of decorative traditions, with inscriptions including traditional Swahili proverbs, political slogans, and public information messages.
In this talk, John Ryle discusses kangas and the online archive Textiles That Talk: an open-access collection of high resolution images and metadata—a live catalogue raisonée of kangas. Explore Textiles that Talk here.
John Ryle is Legrand Ramsey Professor of Anthropology at Bard College, New York. He is cofounder of the Rift Valley Institute, a research and public information organization working in Eastern and Central Africa since 2001, and was Executive Director of the Institute until 2017.
He is coeditor of The Sudan Handbook (2011) and a contributor to periodicals including the London Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, the Financial Times, and Granta. He was formerly a columnist for the Guardian and an editor at The Times Literary Supplement.
This event is presented by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, co-sponsored by the Fowler Textile Council.
Event Date: Saturday, Dec. 8, 11 a.m.
Venue: Fowler Museum at UCLA
Price: Free
The Fowler Museum is located in North Campus.
Parking is available in lot 4.
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