Bogolan by Victoria L. Rovine

Focusing on a single Malian textile identified variously as bogolanfini, bogolan, or mudcloth, Victoria L. Rovine traces the dramatic technical and stylistic innovations that have transformed the cloth from its village origins into a symbol of new internationalism. Rovine shows how the biography of this uniquely African textile reveals much about contemporary culture in urban Africa and about the global markets in which African art circulates. Bogolan has become a symbol of national and ethnic identities, an element of contemporary, urban fashion, and a lucrative product in tourist art markets. At the heart of this beautifully illustrated book are the artists, changing notions of tradition, nationalism, and the value of cloth making and marketing on a worldwide scale.

Victoria L. Rovine is Assistant Professor of Art History and African Studies at the University of Florida. She is a contributor to Fashioning Africa (IUP, 2004). She lives in Gainesville, Florida.

Well-organized chapters, extensive notes, an excellent bibliography, and beautiful color and black-and-white illustrations make Bogolan a pleasure to read. It is highly recommended to all those interested in the arts of Africa and in the social and economic transformations that have influenced them during the past decades.

Rovine has given us a thorough and authoritative account of the adaptability of a given textile to a wide range of local and international modalities.

. . . [T]his is a very good read for anyone with a passion for textiles and the many stories it can tell.No. 93, 2009

I would recommend Rovine's book to anyone interested in West African culture, negotiations between tradition and modernity, or material culture in general. Her book provides a wealth of information on Bamana artists, markets, clothing, and bogolan.