Did colonisation dismantle sustainable systems of the global south? An opinion on textiles, arts and fashion

The people of India : a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan, originally prepared under the authority of the government of India, and reproduced by order of the secretary of state for India in council / edited by J. Forbes Watson and John William Kaye. 1868 – 1875. Image courtesy of Wellcome Collection

 

It’s no news to the world that British and European colonisers ruled many countries of the Global South. Imperialism was extractive and brutal in nature. While the initial fight was for freedom, only recently are we learning the deeper effects of the rule.

Colonisation of a country as big as India and many others in the global south has led to a generational trauma. It has become the fabric of society, inherently walking, breathing and becoming one with systems and behaviours. Be it the way we talk - why is west called the west but east called the east- because it is referenced to the colonial nations; be the way we structure our societies - why are line workers given least importance when no machines can run without them because colonisers downtreaded them since industrial revolution and upheld the systems of caste and race to divide ; or the way businesses are structured - why is endless growth the only way a business is successful- because industrial revolution and subsequent wars demanded it? 

Lady Curzon wearing the “Peacock Dress” created for her in 1903 by the House of Worth, by William Logsdale, 1909. Source: Art UK

 

For someone like me born in the 90s, my great grandparents would have been part of the oppressed generation born in 1900s, still under colonial rule,, my grandparents born in 1930s were kids when they saw the oppression by the British colonisers and were in their youth who breathed in a free country in 1947, my parents were the first generation born in 1960s in a free country , but reeling from a massive loss of resources. I can understand if these three generations shared their stories, histories and lived experiences. 

But my generation – we are comparatively free and further away from the immediate colonial mindset, and can dismantle the colonial burden. We can ask and find solutions to the questions I mentioned above. This is decolonisation and I am going to spend the rest of this article talking about how colonisation dismantled sustainable systems of the Global South, only now for the Global North to accept it as a trend and sell it under the new name of colonisation – capitalism. 

The more you delve deeper, the more you will unravel how everything at large is set by the colonial rule of the Global South. Industrial revolution unfortunately is a byproduct of extractive colonisation. So are our systems – extractive, patriarchal, non-inclusive, non-diverse, and only catering to the white gendered majority to benefit the most. These systems that are only designed to take from the planet while leaving it a state of pollution and harm.

I’ll tell you two stories of the effect of colonisation on textiles, crafts and inherently sustainable clusters of India.

 

Story 1: The Mulmul, or as you call it in the colonised terms - muslin

Mulmul is a type of fabric handspun on charkha and handwoven on handloom using a variety of cotton called Phuti Karpas, native to Bengal region of India and Bangladesh. The fabric is like woven air. It is light, airy, extremely breathable and softest to the skin. It can be made in a growing degree of transparency, a testament of skill of the spinner and weaver. The highest level of transparency was Dhaka Mulmul, now extinct. 91m of Dhakal Mulmul could pass through a single finger ring. 

British and European colonisers, during their rule on India, started exporting varieties of mulmul fabric to Europe and UK. Even tried mimicking but never succeeded. The weavers were extremely skilled, and the knowledge was generationally passed on to families and communities, thus ensuring a hyperlocal economy and a sustainable, holistic business model.

Bengal Famine first ever documentation by journalist Sunil Janah. Source: http://www.enterpix.in/feature/citizen-issue/1943-sunil-janahs-famine-photographs/

 

The initial attacks came by calling the fabric “vulgar” as it was very transparent. Indians wore it as an inner layer and in summers due to the tropical nature of the subcontinent. Then the farmers were forced to let go of farming the variety of Phuti Karpas, to grow Indigo which was a cash crop. This not only plummeted the crop but also rendered the soil helpless for future regeneration. 

The end result of the Bengal Famine is a tale of horrors. It is also said that weaver thumbs were cut so they couldn’t teach the next generation. This is how a cluster of art was dismantled so the powerloom of conventional cotton could thrive. 

Today, these art clusters are reviving slowly. Dhakal Mulmul is extinct but attempts to revive growth of Phuti Karpas are underway. At Jiwya, we work regularly with mulmul weavers to revive, preserve and flourish the craft and the crop. This is our way to decolonise the past and bring authentic mulmul without greenwashing to the globe. Transparently, compassionately with our 100% plant-based materials, and with reverence to the hands that made it. 

Story 2: Ambi motif or how the colonisers stole it as - Paisley

The motif of Ambi, Kueri, Mohar and many local words is native to the Indian subcontinent and shares roots with the travel of Persians, Central Asia by and large. It grows freely and beautifully across many art forms of India, not just fabrics. Woven in shawls, blocks printed on fabrics, embroidered with threads and stones and even drawn on the floor as rangoli – it is beautiful and carries history like a dear friend. The Indian subcontinent also grows more than 1000 varieties of Aam or Mango, raw mangoes are often called Kairi. The transcending of this motif from fabric to floor, paint to food is simply astonishing. 

Sample of a Paisley shawl pattern with long cone or buta shapes at the centre, probably Scottish, Paisley, mid-19th century. Museum reference H.TRA 6.8.

 

Around the 1800s, Britishers started weaving the Ambi in with the community of weavers in Paisley, Scotland. The motif started being called Paisley due to colonisers controlling literally half of the world, and as a result, until today suffers from misrepresentation. While we actively use many shapes of Ambi in our work at Jiwya, our quiet resistance is calling it Ambi, always. 

These are just two stories of countless tales of countless arts, systems, structures dismantled to steer towards profiting at the cost of locally clustered sustainability. Many of these arts and their versions are not fortunate enough to be preserved or even recorded well. 

Precious textiles looted from India become a selling point for museums in the Global North, while actual art communities are still reeling from the colonisation and its evolved form of capitalism. 

If I have to answer the question with which I started writing this piece, YES! Colonisation structurally broke down holistic systems and businesses of the Global South, rooted in sustainability before it became a buzzword –only to repackage that, leaning into capitalism and the buzzword of sustainability to sell products. 

Dupatta has become a Scandinavian scarf, oiling hair for scalp care has become sleek hair look and nightly routine, eating with hands to feel the food has become a trend and once again capitalism, the modern version of colonisation, is wrecking the same havoc.

Jiwya’s Rajkumari Gown with Ambi Kalamkari and unbleached Mulmul, handmade through charkha, handloom and block printing

 

Don’t get me wrong I am not blaming the current generation, rather offering a hand of friendship and compassion to right the wrong. Like I said, we as a generation have lesser generational trauma and the scope to absorb more, reflect more and grow! When it comes to textiles and fashion, this can be done with actually much less effort than generational trauma.

So I invite you to look beyond. If you live, belong to or have roots in the Global South, stand with pride for your art and name it what it is, work with it, uphold it, buy it, cherish it, and proclaim it with details. If you live in or belong to the Global North, know your power. Your usage of the right language, your simple act of crediting the history, your simple choice to put your money towards the ones standing with authenticity makes a difference. 

Colonisation might have been the past we endured, but the future doesn’t have to bear its trauma. Decolonise Fashion. 

And if you ever want to embrace a piece of decolonised, truly sustainable fashion, visit Jiwya (jiwya.com | ID: @jiwya_official) and we would be delighted to showcase our slow, mindful pieces that carry story, history, culture and preservation with them. Our latest collection launches at London Fashion Week, at the heart of the former empire, with love and compassion, because there’s no sustainability without decolonisation.