Cotsen Textile Traces Talk: Syrian Refugees Stewarding Textile Heritage

In this talk, GW professor Nabila Hijazi will introduce a new micro exhibition, presented with the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center, and the class project that inspired it, which she developed in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Dr. Hijazi will share how her students explored Syrian textiles — analyzing examples from the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection and engaging with Syrian refugee women resettled in Washington, D.C. Through this exchange, students learned about traditional materials, techniques and motifs, while also gaining insight into the ways that textile traditions sustain cultural identity in diaspora. The project supported both the Cotsen collection’s digital archive and the UNHCR “MADE51” initiative, emphasizing the role of textiles in preserving memory and craft heritage.

About Nabila Hijazi 

Nabila Hijazi is a teaching assistant professor of writing at the George Washington University. Her research focuses on the rhetoric surrounding immigrants and refugees in the United States, with particular emphasis on the (mis)representation of Muslim women, informed by her experience as a Syrian immigrant. She also explores the culturally grounded literacy practices of Syrian refugee women, examining how these women engage in acts of cultural preservation and resistance through everyday practices such as embroidery, sewing and cooking. Her research has been published in well-regarded journals, such as Pietho, Composition Forum and Constellations, and in several edited collections.