MAP FORUM PRESENTS: Tuesday, 10 March @ 5pm EST/10pm CET

The talk will examine the activities of the enslaved North African and Turkish oarsmen of the galleys of Genoa, Livorno, Civitavecchia, and Naples, turned artisans, makers, merchants, and entrepreneurs. In particular, it analyses clothes making and clothes selling, and how the presence of such large-scale trading activities fuelled the fascination with all things Turkish. Moving beyond the trope of the slave knitter, this talk reconsiders the contribution of Arabs, Turks, Berbers, and Moriscos to the making of early modern Italian material culture and fashion. Federica Gigante is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford as PI of the ERC Starting Grant UNSEEN Unveiling Networks: Slavery and the European Encounter with Islamic Material Culture (1580-1700).