6th Annual Symposium of The New Zealand Costume and Textile Section of the Auckland Museum Institute 9 - 11 March 2007, Auckland, New Zealand Migration and Adaptation: Connecting Cultures through Cloth New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, has changed over the past half century from a largely bi-cultural society to one which celebrates and honours a wide cultural diversity. The theme for the 2007 symposium will explore the roles textiles, cloth and dress have played in migration and subsequent adaptation of people to new environments. Migration in the New Zealand context could include the initial settling of New Zealand by Maori, more recent arrivals over the past two centuries from various European countries, as well as waves of Pacific Islanders, Asian immigrants and migrants from Africa and the Middle East. All these people have brought with them their cultural traditions, personal objects and heirlooms, and a diverse range of skills and expertise in the areas of cloth and clothing. It is this last aspect that the symposium Migration and Adaptation: Connecting Cultures through Cloth aims to highlight through various formats. These may be academic examinations of aspects of material cloth culture; personal recollections by immigrants told through cloth and dress; or explorations of textile objects held in collections and the tracing of their contributions to the process of adaptation of people to new shores. At this stage the following three streams are envisaged: · The story of migration and adaptation to New Zealand as told through cloth and costume. · Items of cloth and costume held in collections and their significance in the host country in exploring the experience of migration and adaptation. · The significance of cloth and costume in forging new connections between people from differing cultural backgrounds. The symposium will run over the weekend of the Auckland Pasifika Festival. A number of activities and exhibitions are planned to run concurrently with the symposium. One of these will showcase a selection of objects that communicate the personal significance that a special cloth object holds for its owner. We welcome submissions of abstracts. Papers are to be 25 minutes each. Please submit a 200 word abstract and a brief biography to Tracey Wedge, email: textileconservator@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Deadline: 28 August 2006 |