1. Ellen McKinney, MA, holds a PhD from the Department of Design, Housing and Apparel at the University of Minnesota with a research interest in apparel design. She has taught textiles and apparel design and merchandising courses in various college settings and researched the topic of wild silk of Nigeria with an interest in incorporating information about global textile production into college textile courses.
2. Joanne B. Eicher, PhD, conducts research on dress as a non-verbal communication system, with particular attention to cultural diversity and African dress and textiles. She lived in Nigeria for three years where she first learned about silk produced by the Anaphe caterpillar for garments prized by Yoruba friends. Her fieldwork, primarily in the Niger Delta, was with the Kalabari people who wear a variety of imported textiles. She is editor-in-chief for a forthcoming (2010) ten-volume encyclopedia on...