The Stuff of Agency

Ane Kirstine Preisler Skovgaard talks about her PhD research on the power, capabilities and impact of textiles.

Based on recent insight into how textile – as both material, technology and object – has influenced human history, my PhD research explores textile’s power to shape cultures. The aim of my project was to comprehend the ways in which textile is able to shape people, the roles it assumes in relation to people and the means with which it exerts influence on its surroundings. I sought the answers to questions such as these using theories of materiality, new materialism, and non-human agency and I worked from the underlying assumption that textiles display an agency of their own and that the material possesses powers, which enable it to affect those who interact with it. By studying a specific case – the workings and effects of textile on Catholic culture in the late Middle Ages – I wanted to offer insight into textile's impact on, and co-creation of, a particular, historical culture. I however sought to apply my results from this study to offer knowledge on – and suggest approaches with which to study – how textiles, across time and culture, are able to transform and shape society; to demonstrate that textiles are not just man-made materials or objects. That they are similarly capable of shaping us.  

The presentation will be followed by a discussion.

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