"Cotton Terminology, Cultural Economy, and Political Communication in Zoroastrian-Iranian Networks";" Centre for Textile Research";"2026-06-24";"15:00";"";"";"South Campus, room 11B-1-05. Participation via Zoom is available. Please <a href=""https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oVVwY9-_SqmXF0y45g6rtg#/registration"">register here</a>";"Talk by Azadeh Pashootanizadeh on the study of Shah Jahan Trading House (1900–1913).";"Talk by Azadeh Pashootanizadeh on the study of Shah Jahan Trading House (1900–1913). This study examines the Shah Jahan Trading House (1900–1913), a Zoroastrian commercial enterprise primarily engaged in the cotton trade. Cotton functioned not only as a significant indigenous Iranian commodity embedded in everyday material culture and local economies but also as a ritual material within Zoroastrian religious life, particularly in the production of sacred garments such as the sudreh. Portrait of Shah Jahan Drawing on surviving commercial records – including invoices, telegrams, bills of lading, and correspondence – the project demonstrates how cotton shipments were, during certain phases of the Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911), used as covert channels for the transportation of weapons and ammunition destined for constitutionalist forces. In addition, the study highlights the emergence of a specialised cotton-related commercial terminology that constituted a coded linguistic system. This system was designed to prevent non-Zoroastrian actors from discerning the nature of shipments and to ensure that consignments remained exclusively managed within Zoroastrian mercantile networks. Notably, elements of this terminology continue to be used, in adapted forms, within contemporary cotton trading practices across parts of Asia."
"Call for papers: Dress and the material culture of the self along the Nile valley";"Fashioning Sudan and Centre for Textile Research";"2027-03-16";"";"2027-03-17";"";"Cairo (at Institut Francais d&#8217;Archeologie Orientale & Danish Institute at Beyt Yakan) and online";"Fashioning Sudan and Nubia international conference 2027.";"Fashioning Sudan and Nubia international conference 2027. For millennia, people living in Sudan and Nubia have developed rich traditions to dress and adorn their bodies. This includes garments made of animal skin (leather and fur) and textiles, jewellery built of extremely diverse materials, hairdoes, make up and other skin modifications such as tattooing, etc., assembled in ever-changing compositions. These practices are shown on the numerous images - carved or painted on monuments, rocky outcrops, vessels, and a myriad of other objects - created by the different inhabitants of Sudan and Nubia. They are also attested by an extremely rich material culture, preserved to a unique degree thanks to the arid conditions that prevail across this vast region. Today, these different sources offer a formidable field of inquiry to study and understand important body practices, which, renewed every day by every member of the society, cemented personal and group identities. This conference will include academic presentations and discussions, a keynote lecture, hands-on demonstrations, and an exhibition. It is conceived as the final event for the Fashioning Sudan project (ERC 101039416) and we hope to welcome interested colleagues and participants working on connected topics and multidisciplinary perspectives, in a celebration of Sudanese heritage. More information and programme forthcoming. Call for papers This conference aims at exploring the diversity of dress, adornment, and other body practices along the Middle Nile valley and its neighboring regions, across time periods. Topics of interest can include (but are not restricted to): Material, iconographic, and textual sources for body-related practices Methods to identify and characterise raw materials People-environment relationships and past body conceptions Developments and meanings of dress and body ornaments, including non-permanent and permanent body modifications Experiential approaches to craft and body-related practices Archaeological, historical, art historical and ethnographic approaches are all welcome. We invite submissions for presentations. Please submit a title and abstract (max. 250 words) before 31 August 2026. For information, registration, and/or submission, contact Rayan Alhaj. Please state your name, institution (if relevant), and whether you wish to join in person or online. "