Translating Textiles, Translating Materiality

Intersemiotic Translation in Haryanvi Clothing

Authors

  • Muskan Dhandhi School of Liberal Studies and Humanities, UPES, Dehradun, India
  • Suman Sigroha Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21747/21844585/tmid202601

Keywords:

Textiles, Intersemiotic Translation, Ethnography, Material Culture, Haryana

Abstract

Haryana, a state in Northern India, has a rich tapestry of oral narratives, rituals, and traditions, yet few scholars acknowledge that there exists a distinct Haryanvi culture at all. It therefore becomes compelling to document the rituals celebrated across the state as well as the material culture associated with them, such as clothing and jewellery. Borrowing from the theoretical paradigm of intersemiotic translation, this paper focuses on understanding the construction and reconstruction of meanings in Haryanvi folklore, material culture and their transfer between sign systems.

By understanding ethnographic practice as a kind of translation, the paper also aims to establish a research methodology that enables materials like textiles to be translated across different spatiotemporal zones.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Muskan Dhandhi, School of Liberal Studies and Humanities, UPES, Dehradun, India

Muskan Dhandhi is an Assistant Professor in English at the School of Liberal Studies and Humanities, UPES, Dehradun, India. She holds a PhD in English Literature from the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. She was awarded the Charles Wallace India Trust Research Grant and the Shastri Indo-Canadian MITACS Globalink Research Award for her doctoral thesis. She has published in journals such as Feminist Translation Studies, Text Matters, and has book chapters with Routledge, Bloomsbury, University of Liverpool Press, and Peter Lang. She also worked as a Research Associate in an oral history project funded by IMPRESS–ICSSR. Her research interests include translation studies, folklore, cultural studies, and digital humanities.
Email address: dhandhimuskan95@gmail.com

Suman Sigroha, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India

Suman Sigroha, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India. With her training in the fields of literary studies and psychology, she engages with texts through psycho-
social concepts that deal with the intersections of art, history, and fiction. She has published in various journals, such as International Research in Children’s Literature, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Kritika Kultura, and with international publishing houses like SAGE, Routledge (Taylor and Francis), University of Amsterdam Press and Lever Press (University of Michigan Press). She has contributed to and co-edited Translational Research and Applied Psychology in India (SAGE, 2019) and co-authored a monograph titled Narratives for Young Readers on West Asia: War, Trauma and Resilience (Routledge, 2025). Email Address: suman.sigroha@gmail.com

References

Ahlawat, N. (2013) ‘Marriage norms, notion of honour and Khap in Haryana’, The Eastern Anthropologist, 66(1–2), pp. 1–14.

Anderson, M. (2003) ‘Ethnography as translation’ in Petrilli, S. (ed.) Translation translation. Amsterdam: Brill, pp. 389–397.

Barthes, R. (1967) The fashion system. Translated by R. Howard. New York: Hill and Wang.

Blumczynski, P. (2023) Experiencing translationality: Material and metaphorical journeys, 1st edn. London: Routledge [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003382201.

Bryan-Wilson, J. (2007) Fray: Art + textile politics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Campbell, M. and Vidal, R. (2024a) The experience of translation: Materiality and play in experiential translation. London: Routledge.

Census of India (2011) Primary census abstract data highlights – Haryana. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India [online]. Available at: https://censusindia.gov.in/2011-Common/CensusData2011.html (Accessed: 13 August 2025).

Chalmers, M. (2010) The art of cross-stitch: Tradition and transformation. New York: Thames & Hudson.

Chowdhry, P. (1994) The veiled women: Shifting gender equations in rural Haryana, 1800–1990. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Dhandhi, M. and Sigroha, S. (2025a) ‘Interpreting female bodies, envisaging female identity: Investigating visual culture and orality in women-centric Sanjhi in North India’ in Seethaler, I.C. and Pillai, S. (eds.) The routledge companion to global women’s writing. London: Routledge, pp. 308–320. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003365730-28.

Dhandhi, M. and Sigroha, S. (2025b) ‘Translation for women, women for translation: Experiential translation in North India’s Sanjhi’ in Vidal, R. and Campbell, M. (eds.) The translation of experience: Cultural artefacts in experiential translation. London: Routledge, pp. 55–72.

Dhandhi, M. and Sigroha, S. (2025c) ‘Women, water, and material culture: Kuan Pujan as an intersemiotic feminist translation practice in India’, Feminist Translation Studies, 2(1), pp. 66–81 [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/29940443.2025.2569632.

Dhandhi, M. and Sigroha, S. (2025d) ‘Translating urban/translating ritual: An ethnographic study of Dev Uthan Ekadashi’, Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture, 15, pp. 147–165 [online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-2931.15.08.

Geertz, C. (1973) The interpretation of cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books.

Government of Haryana (2024a) Economic survey of Haryana 2023–24. Department of economic and statistical affairs [online]. Available at: https://cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in/s32b0f658cbffd284984fb11d90254081f/uploads/2024/02/202402271962653454.pdf.

Government of Haryana (2024b) Haryana agriculture statistics. Department of agriculture and farmers welfare [online]. Available at: https://www.agriharyana.gov.in/data/AYP_MSP_VitalOfAgriDoc/Vital_of_Agriculture.pdf.

Greer, J. (2008) Crafting resistance: Emotion and materiality in contemporary textile practices. London: Routledge.

Greer, J. (2015) Visual translation in contemporary performance: Multisensory Storytelling. London: Routledge.

Jakobson, R. (1959) ‘On linguistic aspects of translation’, in Brower, R.A. (ed.) On translation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 232–239.

Jimeno, M., Varela, D. and Castillo, Á. (2018) ‘Violence, emotional communities, and political action in Colombia’ in Macleod, M. and de Marinis, N. (eds.) Resisting violence: Emotional communities in Latin America. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 23–52.

Kaur, R. (2013) ‘Mapping the adverse consequences of sex selection in Haryana’, Economic and Political Weekly, 48(39), pp. 67–73.

Paine, S. (1990) Embroidered textiles: Traditional patterns from five continents with a visual guide to traditional techniques. London: Thames and Hudson.

Petrilli, S. (2023) Semiotics and translation: Intersemiotic perspectives. London: Routledge.

Polezzi, L. (2020) ‘From substitution to co-presence: Translation, memory and trace in the visual practices of diasporic Italian artists’ in Burdett, C., Polezzi, L. and Spadaro, B. (eds.) Transcultural Italies: Mobility, memory and translation. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 317–340.

Polezzi, L. (forthcoming) ‘A stitch in time: Diasporic art and the weaving of migrant memory’ in Carbonell Cortés, O., Vidal Claramonte, M.C.A., Harding, S.-A. and Savchenkova, M. (eds.) Routledge handbook of translation and culture, 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.

Prain, V. (2014) Embroidery and gender: Power, skill, and representation. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Robinson, D. (2017) Translationality: Essays in the translational/medical humanities. London and New York: Routledge.

Stanfield-Mazzi, M. (2013) Unsettling visions: Contemporary Latin American art and the transculturation of resistance. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Vidal Claramonte, M.A.C. (2025a) Translation and objects: Rewriting migrancy and displacement through the materiality of art. London and New York: Routledge.

Vidal Claramonte, M.A.C. (2025b) Translating indigenous knowledges: Towards a sensuous translation. London and New York: Routledge.

Vidal, M.A.C. (2026) Textile translations: Weaving stories, touching meanings. London and New York: Routledge.

Vidal, R. and Campbell, M. (2024b) The translation of experience: Cultural artefacts in experiential translation. New York: Routledge.

Downloads

Published

2026-10-16

How to Cite

Dhandhi, M., & Sigroha, S. (2026). Translating Textiles, Translating Materiality: Intersemiotic Translation in Haryanvi Clothing. Translation Matters. https://doi.org/10.21747/21844585/tmid202601

Issue

Translation Matters — Ahead of Print

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Translation Matters

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.