Joanne B. Eicher is Regents Professor Emerita in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. She is editor (with Brent Luvaas) of The Anthropology of Dress and Fashion: A Reader, co-author (with Sandra Lee Evenson) of The Visible Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture and Society, 4th edition, and editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion.

Dressing from birth through death in spectacular colors, textiles, and accessories from across the world, the Kalabari of the Niger river delta have a long and changing history of incorporating global influences into their lives. Representing team efforts of Joanne B. Eicher and colleagues from Africa and elsewhere through more than half a century of dedicated scholarship, this finely-honed collection turns previous publications from scattered sources about cultural authentication into a cornucopia of riches. Textile scholars, art historians, and everyone interested in dress-cultures within and beyond Africa and the diaspora will revel in this books' in-depth observations.- Karen Tranberg Hansen, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University

• AcknowledgmentsPrefaceI. Cultural Authentication and Textiles1. Dress, Textiles, and the Kalabari Material World, by Joanne B. Eicher and Tonye Victor Erekosima2. Kalabari Cut-Thread and Pulled-Thread Cloth, by Tonye Victor Erekosima and Joanne B. Eicher3. Cut-Thread Cloth Characteristics, by Otto Charles Thieme4. "Our Great Mother . . . Tied This Cloth", by Elisha P. Renne5. The Economics of Making Pelete Bite, by Joanne B. Eicher, Tonye Victor Erekosima, and Carl Liedholm6. Indian Madras Plaids as Real India, by Sandra Lee Evenson7. Ecological Systems Theory and the Significance of Imported Madras Cloth, by Joanne B. Eicher, Tonye Victor Erekosima, and Manuella Daba BobManuel-Meyer Petgrave8. India and West Africa, by Barbara Sumberg and Joanne B. Eicher9. Designed for Wrapping, by Hazel Ann LutzII. Kalabari Dress10. Male and Female Artistry, by M. Catherine Daly, Joanne B. Eicher, and Tonye Victor Erekosima11. The Stages of Traditional Womanhood, by M. Catherine Daly12. Dress and Gender in Women's Societies, by Susan O. Michelman and Joanne B. Eicher 13. The Aesthetics of Men's Dress, by Tonye Victor Erekosima and Joanne B. Eicher; with Chapter Addendum: Aesthetics of the Color White in Kalabari Men's Dress, by Tonye Victor Erekosima14. Dress as a Symbol of Identity of Sir (Chief) O. K. Isokariari, by Joanne B. Eicher15. Beaded and Bedecked, by Joanne B. Eicher16. Coral Use and Meaning, by Susan J. Torntore17. Headwear, by Joanne B. Eicher and Tonye Victor ErekosimaIII. Kalabari Rituals18. Celebration and Display, by Joanne B. Eicher and Tonye Victor Erekosima19. Fitting Farewells, by Joanne B. Eicher and Tonye Victor Erekosima20. Centenary and Masquerade Rituals, by Joanne B. Eicher21. Kalabari Rituals and Dress as Multisensory Experiences, by Joanne B. EicherIV. The Kalabari Diaspora22. The Kalabari Diaspora in the Twenty-First Century, by Joanne B. EicherBibliographyGlossaryIndex