“Is This Not Just Nationalism?” Disentangling the Threads of Folk Costumes in the History of Central and Eastern Europe

This article critically examines the prevalent nationalist interpretation of historical images featuring textiles from rural regions. In an effort to disentangle the threads of folk costumes, it proposes a conscious unlearning of the way we read images of rural material culture from the late 19th ce...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nationalities papers 2022-07, Vol.50 (4), p.722-741
Main Author: Geering, Corinne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
20th century
Capitalism
Commodities
Costumes
Culture
Economic history
Ethnography
Folk costumes
Historiography
History
Industrial development
Industrialism
Innovations
Material culture
Modern history
Modern society
Museum exhibits
Museums
Nationalism
Nationalization
Political culture
Rural areas
Symbolism
Technological change
Textiles
Women
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:This article critically examines the prevalent nationalist interpretation of historical images featuring textiles from rural regions. In an effort to disentangle the threads of folk costumes, it proposes a conscious unlearning of the way we read images of rural material culture from the late 19th century. This period has entered historiography as a period of intensifying national movements and political use of rural culture, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe. So-called folk costumes have been viewed as a symbolic representation of the nation, whereas their broader social and economic role in the history of industrial society has been overshadowed. By bringing together the production, collection, and exhibition of rural material culture, this article reveals processes in industrial society that shaped the modern history of folk costumes. It draws on late-19th-century source material stemming from a network centered in Prague that promoted textiles from rural Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, and Galicia as ethno-commodities. Textiles were integrated into women’s industrial education and presented at events promoting national economy and the latest technological innovations. Thus, this article contributes to nationalism studies by discussing capitalism and industrialism and seeks to further scrutinize the history of nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe.
ISSN:0090-5992
1465-3923
DOI:10.1017/nps.2021.21