Decoration has secured a foothold within cultural history scholarship, but the legacy of disempowering associations with the artisanal, the amateur, the domestic, the feminine, the parochial, most stridently articulated in the Greenbergian trope of 'kitsch', still cast long shadows.1 The three books explored here demonstrate the active role of decorative practices produced in under-represented contexts played in the articulation of contested identity politics. Their methodological frameworks offer productive synergies with the research agendas of students and scholars committed to decolonization and gender inclusivity. Each offers fresh primary evidence in the form of less-discussed material case studies located historically through diligent investigations of archives and respectful collaborations with local makers and scholars. Joseph McBrinn recalibrates histories of needlework to engage meaningfully with queer identities and practices. Jessica Gerschultz assesses how decoration was engaged in the reconstruction of colonial Tunisia and feminine agency into a new independence. Gabriele Mentges and Lola Shamukhitdinova investigate how textiles transmit contemporary identity and preserve contested heritages across Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and beyond. The rigorous transnational and interdisciplinary approaches exemplified in all three volumes resonates with the important reassessment of national design histories and gender of the last decade.
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