Jasleen Dhamija (1933-2023) was an Indian textile art historian, crafts expert and former UN worker. Based in Delhi, she was best known for her pioneering research on the handloom and handicraft industry, especially history of textiles and costumes. She was professor of living cultural traditions at the University of Minnesota. Over the years, during her career as a textile revivalist and scholar, she authored several books on textiles, including Sacred Textiles of India (2014).
Early life and background
Dhamija grew up in Abbottabad, in the North Western Frontier Province, before her family migrated to Delhi in 1940, where they lived in Khyber Pass locality of Civil Lines, Delhi, and graduated from Miranda House, University of Delhi.
Career
She started her career in 1954, with culture and craft revivalist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay in the Government of India, and started working on craft revival, community development and women's employment. In the 1960s, she worked with the Handicrafts Board of India, next she started working with artisans directly in rural area, this in time lead to her work with the UN developing self-help programmes for women in war-torn Balkan countries.
Over the years, she curated several textile and crafts exhibitions. Besides several books, on crafts and textile, she also wrote two cookbooks, including Joy of Vegetarian Cooking (2000). In 2007, she published a biography of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and her role in the revival of the arts and crafts in modern India.
She was part of the faculty at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, where she taught History of Indian Textiles and costumes.