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The indigenous and global cultural significance of the major textile arts of West Africa with a particular focus on the Kente cloth of Ghana and the Bogolanfini Mud cloth of Mali

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Identifier	Thesis 1809
Author	Patrick, Amanda
Title	The indigenous and global cultural significance of the major textile arts of West Africa with a particular focus on the Kente cloth of Ghana and the Bogolanfini Mud cloth of Mali
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2005
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	This thesis is based on the premise that textile arts, including those produced in West Africa, naturally reflect the cultures and customs of the ethnic groups in which they are created. As such, they can provide us with unique and fascinating insights into how life is lived and what is important to the people in whose communities they are produced. To help set the thesis in its context, I examined the range and history of West African textiles in the first chapter. There is a vast multitude of textiles in West Africa and even within each political nation, there are variations and differences in how each kind is made. It was only as recently as the 1970s that the Western world began to stand up and take notice of the richness and significance of African textiles. African masks and sculpture had certainly been collected and catalogued extensively before this time, but the vast array of cloths deriving from ethnic groups all over the continent remained practically ignored. West Africa comprises all the nations sandwiched between the Atlantic coast and the Cameroon-Nigeria border. To the north, the Sahel zone divides ‘West' Africa from Northern Africa (Stock, 1995, p.18). From the indigo dyed cloths of the Yoruba to the woven blankets of the Fulani, and from the royal Kente of the Asante and Ewe to the cloth designs made from mud and leaves by the rural Bamana, the variation in different cloths is astounding. Textiles have been and continue to be extremely important to many societies in West Africa. They reflect much of the social customs, culture and traditions of these ethnic groups. A selection of these cloths were examined in the first chapter, giving an overview of the textiles of the region, but also helping to contextualize the tradition of cloth making in West Africa, with some of its primary techniques, forms and materials. Since most of these cloths were produced with a practical function in mind, I concentrated chapter 2 on the anthropological relationship between clothing and culture. I found that there is an intrinsically human connection relating clothing to culture which is at the heart of this thesis. It's important to note that even as we tend to refer to ‘cloth' or ‘textiles', most if not all of these ‘cloths' are designed to be worn and thus to ‘clothe' or ‘dress' a person. With the subsequent dawn of understanding about this vast treasury of cultural insight, anthropologists, historians and anyone fascinated by the cultures of Africa have been able to gain enormous new insights as a result of the study of these cloths and how they so closely relate to the culture and customs of different people groups. My research and the central chapters focus on two textiles in particular – the Kente cloth of Ghana and Western Togo and the Bogolanfini mud cloth of Mali. I chose these two textiles based on the hypothesis that they have arguably become two of the best known, not only in the West African region, but also throughout the world. My research confirms this to be true, due in part to the extensive global marketing of African arts and crafts in recent decades (p.143, Blauer, 1999) and to the undeniable popularity of Bogolanfini and Kente in a variety of international markets. Kente and Bogolanfini are both also extremely rich and rooted in cultural tradition. The chapters highlight many facets of the etymology, history, development, social significance, methods of production and customary uses of the textiles and reveal a fascinating insight into the cultures and lives of the people who created them. Their significances span from religious and social to proverbial and political. Their methods of production convey important information about the roles of men and women in Malian, Ghanaian and Togolese societies, specifically the Bamana of Mali and the Ewe and Asante of Ghana and Togo. Tradition and cultural practice is intrinsically intertwined in even the smallest details of production, such as the weaving techniques. How the cloths are worn and by whom also communicate prestige, social status, wealth and honor. Kente and Bogolanfini are inextricably linked to the cultures which they so vibrantly reflect. Another focus of this thesis was to examine how the identities of these cloths may have evolved or changed following their relatively recent emigration to new regions of the globe, particularly Western Europe and North America. I discovered that there have indeed been changes in perception and meaning in these new global contexts. For instance, Kente cloth was originally created as a ceremonial cloth for the complex, hierarchical system of royalty and chiefdom that is historically so pervasive in Ghana. But now, having been exported all over the world, it has adopted new meanings. For example, in the United States, Kente is now seen to be a symbol of African American pride for those who are recognizing their valuable roots in the Diaspora. Similarly, Bogolofini mud cloth has adopted a new identity in Western Europe and North America in the international fashion arena. However, its origins are rooted in deeply religious and social customs of the Bamana people of rural Mali. Thus, Kente and Bogolanfini are examined within two distinct contexts. First of all, the traditional, local and indigenously African context where the cloths are inextricably linked to the cultures which they so vibrantly reflect. Secondly, within a modern, international and Western context where the meaning and identity of the cloths vary or may have evolved in places far removed from the African continent. The findings of this thesis draw from a combination of extensive reading and research of both primary and secondary sources, mostly in the Yale University African collection, one of the world's leading centers for Africana studies. A detailed list of sources may be found in the bibliography. Much is also drawn from personal observations following my 5 years living and working in West Africa and a Fulbright study trip to Ghana last summer.
Subject	Textile fabrics -- Africa, West Kente cloth Bogolan cloth
Department	International Studies Program
Advisor	Fafunwa, Sherinatu
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713734365
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The indigenous and global cultural significance of the major textile arts of West Africa with a particular focus on the Kente cloth of Ghana and the Bogolanfini Mud cloth of Mali

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