Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Textiles
Few places in the world can match West Africa for the beauty, vitality, colour and range of
its textiles. Contrary to what many travellers expect, men are the main producers of textiles
(the
bogolan
cloth of Mali is an exception), weaving wool, cotton, nylon, rayon and silk on
a variety of looms. Most of West Africa's textiles follow the strip-cloth technique, whereby
cloth is woven in narrow strips that are then sewn together. As many West Africans now
wear Western clothes and traditional textiles are largely reserved for ceremonial occasions,
the skills required to produce the finer textiles are disappearing, a trend that sales to collect-
ors and tourists only partly ameliorates.
African Textiles,
by John Gillow, is at once visually eye-catching and a reasonably comprehensive study, in-
cluding sections on Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde and the Niger Delta.
Kente Cloth
Clothing is one of the most important marks of distinction in Ashanti society, and the col-
ourful kente cloth is the most famous expression of Ashanti exuberance. The basic tradi-
tional garment for men is a long rectangular piece of
ntoma
(cloth) passed over the left
shoulder and brought around the body like a toga. The earliest kente cloth was cotton, but
from the 18th century Ashanti weavers began incorporating designs using unravelled, im-
ported Dutch silk. Silk has since gone on to be the fabric of prestige and the most expens-
ive kente cloths contain silk (or imported rayon).
The weaving is done exclusively by men (usually working outdoors), who weave nar-
row, brightly coloured strips with complex patterns and rich hues. Kente cloth is worn only
in the southern half of Ghana and is reserved for prestigious events. Although you'll find
kente cloth on sale across Ghana, your best bet is to head to the Ashanti heartland, espe-
cially at Kumasi's Kejetia Market or the surrounding craft villages.
The Ewe also weave kente cloth, but their designs are somewhat different and include
motifs of geometric figures. Every design has a meaning and some designs are reserved ex-
clusively for royal families.
Kente Cloth; Introduction to History,
by Ernest Asamoah-Yaw, is a fascinating journey through the history of
Ghana's most famous textile with good coverage of pattern and name origins.
