In Dyeing with the Earth, Charlotte Linton explores the intersection of small-scale traditional craft production with contemporary sustainability practices. Focusing on natural textile dyeing on the southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima, Linton details the complex relationship between preservation practices, resource extraction, and land access in the production of Oshima tsumugi kimono cloth, which uses the indigenous technique of dorozome (or mud-dyeing). As global interest in sustainable fashion grows, textile manufacturers on Amami have expanded from kimono production to dyeing garments and textiles for high-profile designers. While traditional craft may appear at odds with the large-scale global textile industry, Linton reveals how Amamian producers face similar social, economic, and environmental pressures. Ethical production in fashion, Linton contends, should focus on understanding local, everyday practices that sustain direct relationships between people, place, and the environment rather than relying on short term solutions via new processes or materials. Weaving ethnography, photography, and drawing, Linton underscores the continued relevance of traditional craft and material cultures amid ongoing climate change and biodiversity loss.
Charlotte Linton is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Social Anthropology at All Souls College, University of Oxford.
"Charlotte Linton uniquely focuses on the complex nexus of political, environmental, and cultural factors informing local craft practices, which provides a nuanced understanding of the role of local communities in the pursuit of sustainable fashion. What is so very exciting about this book is that Linton offers a subtle critique of approaches to sustainability in the global North without reifying efforts to maintain dyeing practices among communities living in the shadows of the global textile and fashion industry. This timely and much-needed book is certain to be a huge success." - Susanne Kuechler, Professor of Art and Anthropology, University College London "By studying a tiny textile workshop on a remote Japanese island, Charlotte Linton reveals the challenges and rewards of working toward sustainably producing goods. Throwing into relief the conflict between this desire and the economic and environmental exigencies that hinder it, Linton recognizes that there is no silver bullet solution to sustaining traditional crafts in the modern postindustrial world, nor is there a neat division between tradition and innovation. She provokes readers of this timely and outstanding book to reflect on how craft practitioners navigate the uncertainties of modernity." - Christine M. E. Guth, author of Craft Culture in Early Modern Japan: Materials, Makers, and Mastery
