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References:
Perani, J. & Wolff,
N. Cloth, Dress and Art Patronage in Africa (1999)
Ghana:
Goody,E. “Daboya
weavers: relations of production, dependence and reciprocity” in E.
Goody ed. From craft to industry (1982)
Nigeria:
Bray,
J.M. “The
Economics of Traditional Cloth Production in Iseyin, Nigeria” Economic
Development and Cultural Change 17 (4) (1969)
Bray,
J.M. “The
Organisation of Traditional Weaving in Iseyin, Nigeria” Africa
38 (3)
(1968)
Clarke,D. Aso Oke:
Hand-Woven Textile Design Among the Yoruba of South-western Nigeria (PhD
thesis, University of London (1998)
Kriger,C. “Textile
Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate” Journal of African
History 34 (1993)
Perani,J.
Nupe Crafts: the Dynamics of Change in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
Weaving and Brass Working (PhD
thesis, University of Indiana) (1977)
Perani,J.
"The
Cloth Connection: Patrons and Producers of Hausa and Nupe Prestige
Strip-Weave"in History, Design, and Craft in
West African Strip-Woven Cloth
(1992)
Renne,E.
“The Decline of Women’s Weaving among the North-East Yoruba”
Textile History
23 (1992)
Shea,P.
The
Development of an Export Oriented Dyed Cloth Industry in Kano Emirate in
the Nineteenth Century (PhD
thesis, University of Wisconsin) (1975)
Senegambia:
Dilley,
R. "Tukolor Weavers and the Organisation of their craft in village
and town" Africa 56(1986) -see also his PhD thesis an other
articles.
Pitts,
D. An Economic and Social History of Cloth Production in Senegambia
(PhD
thesis, University of Chicago) (1978)
Sierra
Leone:
Edwards,
J.P. "The Sociological Significance and Uses of Mende Country
Cloth" in History, Design, and Craft in West African Strip Woven
Cloth (Smithsonian, 1992)
Hardin,
K. The Aesthetics of Action (1993)
Click
the image above for a gallery of vintage postacard images of African
leadership.
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In
most societies in pre-colonial Africa there was some scheme for
the division of labour by gender, with certain tasks being
deemed appropriate for women and others for men, although the
precise allocation varied from place to place and sometimes
changed over time. Weaving was not exempt from these ideas.
Until recently all of the weaving on the double heddle
narrow-strip loom was done by men, as is weaving on the pit loom
in East Africa. The picture for the single-heddle loom is more
mixed. In general the upright loom of Nigeria and the Cameroon
was used by women, but the raffia looms and the ground looms of
Central Africa by men. It has been suggested that men also
monopolised the upright loom in Nigeria prior to the
introduction of the narrow strip loom but the arguments for this
are not persuasive. The gender organisation of the industry is
also impacted by the relation between spinners and weavers - it
is usually women who spin the thread, and in some cultures such
as in Sierra Leone they are regarded as the owners and prime
movers in cloth production, simply hiring an available weaver
for a small fee to weave a cloth for them. More commonly though
weavers purchased the spun thread from their wives or daughters
and so owned the finished cloth. Not least among the effects of
the general move to the use of factory produced thread has been
a shifting of the balance of these gender relations involved in
the production of cloth. Since the 1970's, and particularly in
the 1990s, narrow strip aso oke weaving has become a popular
career choice for young Yoruba women in ever growing numbers.
Elsewhere, so far as I am aware, there are still only isolated
instances of women using the narrow strip loom.
The status of
weavers varied according to the local social structures. Among
the Manding, Tukolor and neighbouring peoples in Senegal, Mali
and Burkina Faso, weaving was one of the occupations restricted
to members of a hereditary "caste" like group as like
smithing, pottery, and praise singing, it was believed to bring
the maker into contact with anomalous and dangerous spiritual
forces. These craft workers and artists were "clients"
and in some cases effectively slaves, of noble families.
Elsewhere, such as among the Yoruba there was no particular
status attached to weaving as such. It was simply one occupation
among many others, organised primarily on the basis of at least
nominally related lineage compounds. Some compounds were
drummers, others farmers, or smiths, and some were weavers. All
boys raised in a weaving compound would learn to weave, while
girls and young women born into or marrying into the compound
would learn to spin and dye thread. Master weavers controlled
and organised the work of a group of subordinates in the
compound, and if they became successful and wealthy could
achieve high status. Although Yoruba women's weaving on the
single heddle loom was often on an individual part time basis to
clothe her own family, there were also areas, particularly in
the C19th and early C20th, where senior women organised
production by groups of female trainees and junior family
members of a quite large scale to supply a thriving regional
trade.
(c)
Duncan Clarke 2003
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