Tag Archives: Folk history

Weaving Air – Muslin

Age: 25

Date Collected: 04/30/2026

Context:

My informant is a good friend of mine who immigrated from Bangladesh for his college education. He was telling me about the story of a legendary fabric from his hometown, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He told me when we were hanging out outside of the USC Fisher Museum of Art.

Text:

Me: Okay. So you were telling me a little bit about back home in Dhaka, that’s where the muslin fabric comes from. Right?

EJ: Yeah, thats where its from. There used to be like this whole area kind of like the Arts District in LA like a municipality where they would make this cotton fabric. It’s unique because it was so thin, they called the skill “weaving air” because it was so light and thin, and that’s like one of the things that we’re very proud of culturally. They used to be able to weave it so tight the thread counts were really high. You could fold it up into a matchbox.

Me: You told me earlier that they don’t make it the same anymore right? Can you talk a little more about that.

EJ: Yeah for sure.. I don’t know the whole story, but I just know that it originates from Bangladesh. Dhaka is exactly where it comes from. Dhaka used to be like a hub of culture and and money and then in about sometime in like whenever, the the English colonized it. They took the fabric for their royalty. The royalty and wealthy used to wear this in Bangladesh. The English took it and brought it back home and they cut off the hands of the weavers who would make this fabric.

Me: Jesus. Why do you think they’d do that?

EJ: I think they just didn’t want people who were wearing the same things as their royalty.

Me: Yeah, that sounds like the English hahaha. So there’s no more muslin makers in Dhaka.

EJ: No, not like that. The old ways were lost. After loosing their hands, they couldn’t make any anymore, so they retired and the art was lost.

Me: But, is it extinct?

EJ: No, there’s new places that make them still by hand. But it can’t fit into a matchbox and isn’t the same. They can’t do the same techniques.

Me: Do you have any in your family, or have you seen it before?

EJ: No, I don’t think we have any. But, I’ve been to weddings and they have it there.

Me: That sounds like a terrible thing to accidentally misplace. Oh also earlier you were also showing me that Instagram reel that was kind of showing appreciation for Bangladeshi culture, right? Like how it’s reflected in modern life and also in the future.

EJ: Yeah, yeah, that reel was kind of just talking about how the muslin was used on the first airplane that the Wright brothers flew, and also on the Artemis II, which is really cool.

Me: How do you feel about seeing part of your culture being used by other people? Is it like something that makes you happy or a little upset?

EJ: You know, it’s really cool to see Bangladeshi culture being represented, especially on huge moments in like this.

Me: Yeah, I can imagine there’s a lot of pride in that, cause I mean, this is essentially the future of humanity, and your culture is playing a huge role in that. Man might not have been able to fly or land on the moon if it weren’t for those weavers and your culture’s history.

EJ: Exactly.

Analysis:

I did a quick search to see what is true, and what might be more folklore from the story. From what I could tell, Dhaka is genuinely one of the most impressive textiles ever made. The Wright brothers did not use any Dhaka Muslin; they used an “Americanized” version that was derived from the impressive tradition. The muslin used on the Wright brothers’ plane was taken to the Moon by Neil Armstrong and later to Mars by the Ingenuity rover.

What might be more folkish is that the Wright brothers did not actually use Dhaka’s muslin. Also, the hand-cutting story is not historically verified, but that doesn’t mean it never happened. What is true is the major damage done to the Bangladeshi people as a result of the English colonists.

The history of muslin reflects the beauty and majesty of old Bangladesh. As my friend mentioned, it thrived culturally and economically. Then the English East India Company came and colonized the country. In the process, many fine folk arts were lost. The story of the cutting of hands might be true, but whether it is literal or not, the imagery is symbolic for what the English colonization of Bangladesh did to the Bengali people. The cutting of their hands represents the stripping of culture, practices, and traditions. The legend of cutting hands doesn’t have to be historically accurate to be insightful and meaningful. It is a way to deal with the loss of identity as well. Hands are essential for making a living; they hold our fingerprints and identity. When the English “cut off” their hands, they were cutting off the ability to live and continue as they had before.

My friend had pride in saying that you could fold a full muslin outfit into a matchbox size. The image is impressive and impossible, showing the value of the golden pre- colonial era. The pride in calling it “woven air” seems to stand in for the old ways as a whole. Traditions were lost; they weren’t all perfect, but they were irreplaceable and, most importantly, they were Bangladesh’s. The fact that no one has ever been able to accurately replicate the hand-woven artistry of Dhaka’s weavers once again communicates that something irreplaceable was lost when Bangladesh was colonized.

It’s an interesting choice in story to tell me. I had been asking him for examples of Bangladeshi culture, foods, festivals, stories, jokes, sayings, and more. From all of them, he told me this one, which is quite interesting. When he first told me, he made sure to mention the impact he learned from the Instagram reel. That THIS is his culture and it had an undeniable impact on human history. He didn’t have to explain what the muslin meant culturally, and I didn’t necessarily even need to understand. The story communicates Bangladeshi pride in a way that anyone can understand and appreciate.

Looking at the full arc is quite interesting too. We saw a folk art that was a people’s pride that got stolen by outsiders and used to dress their royalty. The creators were no longer able to make it, and the tradition seemed lost. But centuries later, it was brought into the limelight as part of humanity’s journey into space. The story reframes the tragedy and pain into a story of how Bangladesh made something that monumentally changed human history forever.

A Folk History of the Paisa People, the Colombian Mountain Dwellers

Nationality: Colombian
Age: 73
Residence: Medellin, Colombia
Performance Date: April 7 2017
Primary Language: Spanish

The Paisa people are a genetically distinct group of people from the northern mountains of Colombia, a region known as Antioquia. I asked my grandmother if she had any folk stories about the Paisa people and she provided me with a folk history of developments around the region of Medellin.

My grandmother experienced the transition from country living first hand. She grew up in a household of fifteen on a big estate in the mountains, and has witnessed the the transition from rural to urban, commenting on these sweeping developments and the tragic influence of dirty money. Although general in nature, her folk history provides a perceptive voice for many older Paisa peoples.

Below is a verbatim transcription in Spanish, followed by a full translation in english.

“Colombia es un país muy grand, y tiene muchos distritos. Las personas por todo el país son muy diferentes. Juana me llevo a Barranquilla cuando era una niña chiquita y me descresto mucho. El antioqueño trabaja mucho. En contrasto el costeño quiere la calidad de vida más que todo. Vive con la música. En la costa la música es muy alegre. En Antioquia es mucho más sombre la música. La música de cada región demonstra mucho a las personas.

Nosotros somos antioqueños. Para el antiqueño el humor es muy importante. Con la vida tan difícil para nosotras familias del monte, siempre es muy importante tener humor durante los largos días. Antioquia es la región más montenosa de Colombia, nosotros vivimos en las montañas Andes. Las bestias como los caballos nos ayudaron en fundar nuestras ciudades, en explorar las montañas y mover nuestras posesiones. También después el tren cambió mucho, nos ayudo mucho en establecer las ciudades como Medellín. Cuando ya tuvimos los caros y aviones verdaderamente se estábliso la vida moderna. Hoy en día el antioqueño es muy industrioso. Antes éramos todos campesinos. Nuestros abuelos en esta región tuvieron quince, veinte niños. La vida en el campo era difícil, trabajando afuera todo el día, sin casi plata o mucho para comer. Era una vida muy honorable, como nosotros antes vivíamos. Pero siempre, con taña pobreza, avía un enfoco en la plata, en coger la plata. Todo cambio muy rápido en Antioquia. Nos fuimos de las fincas asta los colegios y las universidades bien rápido. Y la plata vino bien rápido con la industria también. Nunca tuvimos plata como eso.

Yo creo que por eso era tan fácil que creció el narcotráfico, que gente como Pablo Escobar cogieran control. La gente querían plata, las cacas y el caro más lindo, y lo quieran lo más rápido que posible, gastar la más plata que posible. El antioqueño ama su plata, es muy industrioso. Pero el antioqueño viejo era muy distinto. Ahorraba todo. Antes era proteger y cuidar los caballos, estar en el monte. Trabajaba con el sudor de la frente, como se dice. El pensamiento se a cambiado totalmente. Todo se esta cambiando, están las cosas mucho mejor, pero todavía existen las cosas que cambian el carácter bueno del paisa, el antioqueño.

ENGLISH:

“Colombia is a very big country, and it has many diverse districts. The people in every district of the country are very different from each other.

Juana (her grandmother) took me to Barranquilla (a coastal city) when I was a little girl and I was very amazed by how different they were from us. We antioqueños work a lot. In contrast, the coastal people are most concerned with their quality of life. They live and breathe music. In the coast, the music is much more upbeat, whereas music from Antioquia can be very somber. The music from every region demonstrates each of the peoples very well.

So yes, we are antioqueños. To the antioqueño, constant humor is very important. With such a difficult life in the mountains, it was always very important to have a sense of humor throughout the long days. Antioquia is the most mountainous region in Colombia. We live in the Andes Mountains. The work early on was done with the help of our horses and mules, they helped us to found our cities out here in the desolate mountains. They helped us trek upwards and move our supplies and possessions. Then, later on, the development of trains was incredibly impactful; they helped us to really establish cities such as Medellin as we know them. When finally we had cars and airplanes, things really picked up at an incredible speed and modern life as we know it established itself.

Nowadays the paisa is incredibly industrious. Before, all of us lived out in the country, on our ranches. Our parents, that generation, they all had 15 to twenty children, all of them. Life in the mountains like that was incredibly difficult, working outside all day, without much money or very much to eat. It was an honorable, family oriented life, how we used to live. But of course, with such poverty, there was always an underlying thirst for wealth for us, we wanted to have our own industry, our own factories, not to import. Everything changed incredibly fast in Antioquia. We went from the ranches to the factories, the schools and universities very quickly. And the money too, it came very quickly with the industriousness. We never had been used to having money like that.

I think that’s why it was so easy for narcotrafficing to grow quickly in our region, why people like Pablo Escobar came into control. People wanted money, the houses, the cars, the nicest ones and they wanted it all as fast as possible, to spend as much as possible. The antioqueño loves his money, he’s very industrious. But the old Paisa was very different. He saved everything. Before it was take care of the horses, protect them, trot in the mountains. He worked by the sweat of his brow, as they say. The way of thinking has changed completely. Everything is changing, and things are getting much better, but even still there exist those things that affect the good character of the antioqueño, the paisa.

Analysis: I love to hear my grandmother’s thoughts on the paisa people and our development. It’s very interesting that the peoples of Colombia are actually such different groupings. In fact, we even look different around the country even though we all consider ourselves Colombian. My grandmother grew up on a massive ranch with thirteen siblings in total. She has seen the changes first hand. She seems to have a belief in the cunning and intelligence of the paisa but perceives a negative bent in our current culture. Every time I talk to her she is very hopeful for the future of Colombia now that a peace deal is in process.