Robert Ross, born in Sidcup, Kent, UK, in 1949. Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Associate Professor at the Department of Languages and Cultures of Africa at Leiden University.
Fellow (1 September 2003 – 31 January 2004)
CLOTHING: A GLOBAL HISTORY: OR THE IMPERIALISTS’ NEW CLOTHES
During my stay at NIAS, I concentrated on my work for a book to be entitled Clothing, a Global History: or the Imperialists’ New Clothes, to be published by Polity Press. In the time that was available to me, I tried to benefit as much as I could from the unrivalled advantages that NIAS offers for the collection and use of published academic literature. As a result, I was able to order well over 250 books and articles during my five-month stay, to supplement those I found via the internet and as electronic journals. These sources provided me with the basis for the various chapters of the book, which I hope to have nearly completed by the end of 2004. I was able to complete three chapters (out of a projected eight), and to make substantial inroads into several of the others.
In addition, as a historian of South Africa I continued my work on editing the Cambridge History of South Africa (largely chasing up authors). I wrote five book reviews and revised several conference papers for publication.