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Moda Negra, Past and Present
  • ISSN: 2051-7106
  • E-ISSN: 2051-7114

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which fashion consumption shaped the understandings of citizenship and belonging in colonial and postcolonial Nigeria and Brazil. It focuses on , a printed textile that was brought to West Africa by European merchants and Christian missionaries. The article examines how African materials, such as , challenged modern beauty standards and have been used to control people during colonization. In Nigeria, became a symbol of the new Christian citizen, while in contemporary Brazil, it was used to challenge western fashion and celebrate African heritage. The article uses visual art, literature and interviews with fashion designers in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Salvador to show how has become a part of Afrocentric Brazilian fashion. Overall, the study of shows how fashion has been used as a tool of oppression and how its oppressive history is in the process of changing, thanks to modern Afro-Brazilian fashion designers.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Programme (GSSP)
  • Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence
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/content/journals/10.1386/infs_00094_1
2023-11-01
2026-04-12

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