What role does fabric play in disrupting colonial material histories?

Fabric has long been a silent yet powerful actor in the disruption of colonial material histories. As a medium of cultural expression, it carries the weight of identity, resistance, and memory. During colonial rule, textiles were often appropriated or commodified, yet they also became tools of subversion. Indigenous weavers embedded coded messages in patterns, preserved traditional techniques despite suppression, and used cloth to assert autonomy. Postcolonial movements have reclaimed these materials, turning them into symbols of decolonization—reviving lost crafts, challenging Eurocentric narratives, and reconnecting communities to pre-colonial heritage. From Ghanaian kente cloth to Andean weaving, fabric serves as both archive and activist, unraveling colonial legacies stitch by stitch. Its tactile nature makes history tangible, inviting us to touch the past while reimagining its future.