Joanne Eicher
Joanne Bubolz Eicher (September 18, 1930 – June 2026) was an American academic and author who was at one point the leading scholar on Kalabari textiles.[1][2]
Early life and education
[edit]Joanne Bubolz Eicher was born in East Lansing, Michigan on September 18, 1930.[3] In 1952 Eicher received an MS in sociology and anthropology, and in 1959 she received a PhD in sociology and anthropology, all from Michigan State University. She had previously received a BA from Michigan State University in 1948, having majored in languages and literature and minored in textiles and clothing.[4]
Career
[edit]Eicher was part of the faculty of Michigan State University's Department of Human and Environmental Design beginning in the late 1960s and continuing until 1977.[4] That year she became head of the Department of Textiles and Clothing at the University of Minnesota;[5] she held that position until 1983. From 1983 until the end of 1987 she was the Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel's head, also at the University of Minnesota.[1] She taught at that university until her retirement in 2005, and in 1995 she was given a Regents’ Professorship there.[1][6] She eventually became regents professor emerita.[7]
She was also director of the Goldstein Museum of Design from 1983 to 1987.[8]
Eicher was a speaker as part of the Margaret Ritchie Distinguished Speaker series at the University of Idaho in 2003.[9][10]
She was a member of the Textile Research Centre's Advisory Council beginning in 2006. She was also on the board of the Textile Society of America from 2008 to 2012.[11]
Eicher was the editor-in-chief of the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, first published in print in 2010.[7]
Death
[edit]Selected bibliography as author
[edit]Source:[11]
- Johnson, K.K.P., Torntore, S.J. and Eicher, J.B., (2003). Fashion Foundations: Early Writings on Dress. Oxford, UK, Berg Publishers.
- Eicher, J.B. and Ling, Lisa, (2005). Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride: Rituals of Womanhood, Washington, D. C. National Geographic Society.
- Eicher, J.B. and Evenson, S.L, (2014). The Visible Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture and Society, 4th ed. New York: Fairchild Publishers.
- Eicher, J.B. (2022). Global Trade and Cultural Authentication: The Kalabari of the Niger Delta. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.
- Eicher, J.B. and Evenson, S.L, (2023). The Visible Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture and Society, 5th ed. New York: Fairchild Publishers.
Selected bibliography as editor
[edit]Source:[11]
- Roach-Higgins, M.E., Eicher, J.B., & Johnson, K.P. (Eds.) (1995). Dress and identity. New York: Fairchild Books.
- Eicher, J.B. (Ed.) (1995). Dress and Ethnicity: Chance Across Space & Time, Berg Publishers.
- Sciama, L., Eicher, J.B. (Eds.). (1998) Beads and Beadmakers: Gender, Material Culture, and Meaning. Oxford/New York. Berg Publishers.
- Eicher, J. B. and Ross, Doran, (Eds.) (2010). Volume 1, Africa, Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion.[14] New York: Oxford University Press.
- Eicher, J.B. Editor-in-Chief, (2010). Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion[14] (10 vols). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Luvaas, B. and Eicher, J.B. (Eds.) (2019). The Anthropology of Dress and Fashion: A Reader, London and New York: Bloomsbury.
- Eicher, J.B. (Ed.) (2022). Global Trade and Cultural Authentication: The Kalabari of the Niger Delta, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Selected awards and honors
[edit]Source:[11]
- 1989: Fellow, International Textile and Apparel Association
- 2003: Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Humane Letters), Iowa State University
- 2004: Leadership Award, Arts Council of African Studies Association
- 2007: Ada Comstock Distinguished Woman's Faculty Award/Lecturer, University of Minnesota
- 2009: Fellow, Costume Society of America
- 2012: Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Social Science, Michigan State University
Papers
[edit]The Joanne B. Eicher papers are at the University of Minnesota Archives, under Collection Identifier ua2005-0028.[1][15]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 "Collection: Joanne B. Eicher papers | University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides". archives.lib.umn.edu.
- ↑ "Someone Else | "One Foot After Another": How Joanne Eicher Changed the Meaning of Clothing". someone-else.us.
- ↑ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org.
- 1 2 Aronson, Lisa (2017). "Joanne Bubolz Eicher: Trailblazer in the Field of African Textiles, Dress, and Fashion". African Arts. 50 (3): 38–47. doi:10.1162/AFAR_a_00356. JSTOR 48547418. S2CID 57566701. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- ↑ "Fashion has a bright future". The Age, page 16. September 10, 1982 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Dr. Joanne B. Eicher". Digital Conservancy. University of Minnesota. 2014. hdl:11299/155886.
- 1 2 Staff Writer. "T-TALK: Volumes of style". The Tuscaloosa News.
- ↑ Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel. (1986). Goldstein Gallery Collections. St. Paul, MN: Goldstein Gallery, University of Minnesota.
- ↑ ""Clothing expert to talk at UI Friday"". Lewiston Morning Tribune. September 24, 2003. p. 4C – via Google Books.
- ↑ ""The Display of Skin from Africa to the Academy Awards," Margaret Ritchie Distinguished Speaker, Family and Consumer Sciences, U of Idaho, September, 2003". Experts@Minnesota.
- 1 2 3 4 "Joanne B. Eicher | College of Design". design.umn.edu.
- ↑ Earle, Kathryn (June 2026). "Joanne B. Eicher, 1930–2026: In Memoriam". Bloomsbury Fashion Central. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- ↑ "Remembering Joanne Bubolz Eicher". University of Minnesota Twin Cities. 9 July 2026. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Every week should be fashion week!". OUPblog. September 15, 2010.
- ↑ "University Archives | University of Minnesota Libraries". www.lib.umn.edu. September 7, 2023.