The ‘Silk Road’, which initially signified the overland trade networks extending from China to the Mediterranean, has evolved to encompass maritime trade networks spanning the various oceans and extending across the globe. The IASSRT 9 interdisciplinary gathering invited scholars from art history, anthropology, history, textile studies, conservation, and related fields to present research that explores the dynamic exchanges along the maritime trade routes up to the early to mid-1900s. Given the conference’s location in California, we invited papers that investigate (although not limited to) interactions along or with the Pacific Rim. This region encompasses coastal lands from Southeast Asia through China, Japan, and Korea, extending across the North Pacific via Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands, the Bering Strait, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, Western North America, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. We looked for how these interactions such as historical migration, colonial power, and economic forces influenced the circulation of goods, ideas, and techniques that ultimately shaped textile production, consumption, and artistic expression.

Co-organizers
The International Association for the Study of Silk Roads Textiles (IASSRT), the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for Silk Road Studies (TCSRS), the Center for Southeast Asia Studies (CSEAS), and the Tracing Patterns Foundation