Welcome to the fourth season of Haptic and Hue’s Tales of Textiles. This season is called Threads of Survival and the eight episodes focus on people who have seen hardship and difficulty, but who have survived and often flourished against the odds. This introduction sets the context for the new Season and provides a mini-guide to the thinking behind the episodes. In it, we will explore stories of different peoples and different threads and textiles that in the face of poverty, intolerance, violence, enslavement, or sometimes just indifference, have shown great resilience, and have survived and often triumphed. I hope these podcasts give us a fresh way of looking at the world - one that allows us to hear what textiles have to say and helps us understand the central role cloth plays in our cultures and how it enables us to express our deepest feelings and emotions. There are some changes to Haptic and Hue for this season. Episodes will now be uploaded on the first Thursday of every month and will continue throughout the year with a short break in the summer. This is to give us a chance to explore more widely and to research some topics that we don’t know so well. We will also be announcing shortly details of a Haptic and Hue Membership or Community scheme where we hope to provide a regular behind-the-scenes look at what we are doing, as well as some extra content. For a full script of this podcast and shownotes please go to www.hapticandhue.com/listen.