From a Philosophical Viewpoint: Textile Production and Asymmetrical Dependency

Beatrix Hoffmann-Ihde
BCDSS Exhibition Curator

Asymmetrical dependency relationships emerged thousands of years ago within textile production and became a curse for the people who were at their mercy. Even the Greek philosopher Aristotle (fig. 1) referred to the link between slavery and textile production. Thomas More criticized the farming of sheep for wool at the expense of the people who had been forced to give up their fields for sheep pastures in early modern England.

Fig. 1: Bust of Aristotle. Roman copy based on the Greek bronze original by Lysippos, ca. 330 BC (Museo nazionale romano di palazzo Altemps, Inv. 8575) (photo: Jastrow, 2006).

“If the Shuttle Would Weave Without a Hand to Guide it…”

In his book ‘Politics,’ Aristotle[i] (384-322 BCE) stated as early as the 4th century BC: “If […] the shuttle would weave […] without a hand to guide [it], […] masters [would not want] slaves.“[ii] (figs. 2a + 2b). In this section, Aristotle explains the economic order of his environment as part of the state system. From today’s viewpoint, however, he also drew attention to the highly asymmetrical dependency relationships associated with textile production at that time. Little has changed since then: Clothing, as well as a significant proportion of household textiles, such as carpets, is currently produced under exploitative conditions in what is known as the Global South (fig. 3).

Fig. 2a: Two women at a vertical loom, depicted on the wall of an Attic clay anointing oil vessel (lekythos). Amasis Painter, 550-530 BCE; H: 17,1 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. 31.11.10.) (photo: MoMA NY, n.d.).

Fig. 2b: Cypriote plate with depiction of a loom late 8th century BC (Akademisches Kunstmuseum Bonn, Inv. 3107), (photo: AKM, 2011).

Fig. 3: Workers in a textile factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh (photo: Rehman Asa/Shutterstock.com).

The manufacture of textiles is one of mankind’s oldest cultural techniques. The earliest references date back around 32,000 years (Kvavadse et al. 2009). It is thought that the first textiles were produced as tools to support the sourcing of food: Nets, ropes, and baskets. Another key function of textiles was protection: Of human skin by clothing and of the entire body with household textiles, such as tents, yurts, curtains, or carpets. However, the use of textiles had other functions early in human history: Textiles, particularly clothing, served to indicate social positions and status in a community or society. The production of textiles could also be a marker of social status, which, for instance, survives to this day in the German language in the proverb “Spinning in the morning – sorrow and worry. Spinning in the evening – refreshing and revitalizing”.[i] For those who, in the past, were reliant on spinning for their livelihoods, this meant poverty and need. This work was poorly paid, arduous, and unhealthy for the body, as it had to be carried out all day to earn the bare necessities of life. It was mostly women from the lower social classes who lived in the simplest conditions, spun at home, and carried out other activities at the same time, such as looking after children or cooking. However, for those who spun in the evening as a way to pass the time, their livelihoods were secure and spinning was relaxing.

Wool Sheeps Versus Arable Farming

It was not only the manufacture of textiles that was, and still is, linked to asymmetrical dependency relationships; this is also true of the manufacture of the raw materials. In the 16th century, Thomas More (1478-1535) (fig. 4) complained in his book ‘Utopia’: “ ‘Your sheep,” […] that are usually so mild and so meagerly fed (as they say) become so ravenous and untamed that they devour the people themselves, and lay waste and ravage their fields, homes, and towns.” (More 1982 [1516]: 22). In England, and later also in Wales and Scotland, many crop farmers and even entire village communities were evicted from the communal lands on which they earned their living as tenants, primarily to create pastures for wool sheep farming (fig. 5). As part of these Clearances, which took place prior to enclosure, for example to create pastures, thousands of crop farmers and their families were forced to leave their homes. Many went into the towns to work in the factories there. Others emigrated to Australia or North America to build a new life. Unfortunately, once there, they often continued the practice of eviction themselves and appropriated indigenous land in order to farm it.

This process was triggered by the steadily growing demand for wool within the English economy, as wool production was increasingly considered a secure source of income from the 15^th century on. For England and, later, the United Kingdom, wool production was one of the most important sources of income for centuries, frequently also the only reliable one. The steadily growing demand for wool set an agricultural revolution in motion on the British Isles and intensified social disparities.

Fig. 4: Portrait of Sir Thomas More. Hans Holbein the Younger, 1527 (The Frick Collection, New York, 1912.1.77.).

Fig. 5: Grazing sheep in the Scottish Highlands (photo: B. Ihde, 2024).

From a Philosophical Viewpoint: Textile Production and Asymmetrical Dependency

Beatrix Hoffmann-IhdeBCDSS Exhibition Curator

“If the Shuttle Would Weave Without a Hand to Guide it…”

Wool Sheeps Versus Arable Farming

Further Reading

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Beatrix Hoffmann-Ihde
BCDSS Exhibition Curator