This Research Unit comprises three different subprojects:

• Tailored to Customers’ Needs. Horn of Africa Consumers and the Global Textile Production: This subproject will explore how consumer preferences influenced the textile production of far-away countries, between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. In a rapidly globalizing world, and on the background of the economic and political processes that brought about the different European imperialisms, the textile producers of India, Italy, France, and the United States competed to sell their products and accomodate to African demands;

• Appearance Matters: Between the 19th and 20th centuries, many travellers who visited the Horn of Africa reported on how much local fashion was changing. New shapes, fibres and textures, and the spread of certain accessories, went hand in hand with a modification of the meanings associated with clothing. Footwear took on a high symbolic value, while hats, tarbooshes, pocket watches and walking umbrellas became the hallmarks of new social classes that creatively domesticated these everyday objects. Drawing inspiration from the main works on the history of consumption, the aim of this subproject is to investigate how cultural and social logics informed consumer desire, as well as the demand and use of cloth and fashion accessories;

• Digitizing African Consumerism: an expert in digital humanities will develop this subproject under the supervision of the head of the unit, who has also a considerable experience in the application of these methods to African studies. Together, they will produce an online exhibition and some digital maps. 

Image by Massimo Zaccaria