Week 8: Zoe Martin

Week 8

(Re)making Identity through Fashion

Speaking through Cloth: Teaching Hmong History and Culture Through Textile Art

Zoe Martin

McCall’s article discusses the importance of textile arts within the Hmong culture. Importantly, the paj ntaub, a form of textile art, involves many textile techniques (applique, reverse applique, cross stitch, batik, and embroidery) and is significant in terms of social class as well. It is fascinating that this one form of textile art can tell so much about women and Hmong history. The article stated, “When girls were old enough to sew their own clothing, the paj ntaub on their clothing let their prospective parents-in-law assess the girls’ character, creativity, and industriousness through the needlework’s quality.” 

This was especially interesting to me--it is a very foreign concept to search for a life partner based off of a textile, rather than getting to know them for their core values, beliefs, or what kind of person they are. In Western culture, when finding a spouse, people rarely even use the courting process to get to know potential partners which is common among Asian cultures. It seems a little unfair to me to judge a woman based on their textile art. Despite the cultural tradition, a woman’s strengths may lie in areas other than textile crafts. For instance, a very strong, capable, independent woman may be good at science, math, engineering, or technology rather than textile art. Additionally, there is more to women than their creativity and industriousness. I think character traits such as kindness, generosity, or lovingness are equally as important. This seems like a double standard to me and is similar to judging a book by its cover. What are prospective parents-in-law able to judge their future sons-in-law by? Why is the paj ntaub a woman’s craft?