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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2021

Corinne Geering Open the ORCID record for Corinne Geering [Opens in a new window]
Corinne Geering*
Affiliation:
Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), Leipzig, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: corinne.geering@leibniz-gwzo.de
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

dressnationalismindustrial societymaterial cultureAustria-Hungary
Type
Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , July 2022 , pp. 722 - 741
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© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Association for the Study of Nationalities

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