| Textile
Resources
Home Page -coming soon
Nigerian women's
weaving gallery - click the image below to view cloths we have for sale here
Web Links: - none known
References:
Afigbo, A. & Okeke,
C. 1985. Weaving Tradition in Igboland
Aremu, P. 1982.
"Yoruba Traditional Weaving: Kijiipa Motifs, Colour and
Symbols" in Nigeria Magazine 140
Aronson, L. 1980.
"History of Cloth Trade in the Niger Delta: a study of
diffusion." in Idiens, D. & Ponting, K. 1980. Textiles of Africa
Aronson, L. 1989.
"Akwete Weaving: Tradition and Change" in Engelbrecht, B.
& Gardi, B. eds. Man Does Not Go Naked
Aronson, L. 1992.
"Ijebu Yoruba Aso Olona" in African Arts 25
Aronson, L. 2001.
"We weave it:" Akwete Weavers, their patrons, and Innovation
in a Global Economy. in Tornatore, S. ed. Cloth is the Center
of the World: Nigerian Textiles, Global Perspectives.
Borgatti, J. 1983. Cloth
as Metaphor
Kriger, C. 1993.
"Textile Production and Gender in the Sokoto Caliphate" in Journal
of African History 34
Lamb, V. & Holmes,
J. 1980. Nigerian Weaving
Murray, K. 1936.
"Women's weaving among the Yorubas of Omu-aran in Ilorin
Province" in Nigerian Field 5
Okeke, C.S. 1980.
"Use of Traditional Textiles Among the Aniocha Igbo of Mid-western
Nigeria" in Idiens, D. & Ponting, K. 1980. Textiles of Africa
Perani, J. 1977. Nupe
Crafts: the Dynamics of Change in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
Weaving and Brass Working (PhD
thesis, University of Indiana)
Picton J. & Mack J.
African Textiles (1989, 2nd Edition)
Picton J. 1980.
"Women's Weaving: the Manufacture and Use of Textiles Among the
Igbirra People of Nigeria." in Idiens, D. & Ponting, K. 1980. Textiles of Africa
Poyner, R. 1980.
"Traditional Textiles in Owo, Nigeria" in African Arts
14
Renne, E. 1995. Cloth
that does not die: the meaning of cloth in Bunu social life.
Renne, E. 1992. "Aso
Ipo: Red Funeral Cloth from Bunu" in African Arts 25
Renne, E. 1992.
"The Decline of Women's Weaving Among the North-east Yoruba"
in Textile History 23
(c)Duncan Clarke, Version
10/30/2002 |
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In
the art traditions of pre-colonial Africa male and female roles
were usually clearly defined. In sub-Saharan Africa sculptors in
wood and metal were almost invariably male, while in most but
not all areas potters were women. With weaving the picture is
more complex. Until very recently the double-heddle narrow strip
loom was used only by men, as were certain types of single
heddle loom, such as ground looms and Central African raffia
looms. There was however a large area extending from parts of
Togo, across Benin and Nigeria into western Cameroon where women
wove, using single heddle looms mounted upright against a house
wall. It seems likely that this is an ancient technique in the
region, although it may have spread up into northern Nigeria
only in the early nineteenth century. Fragments of raffia fibre
cloth that may have been woven on this kind of loom uncovered at
Igbo Ukwu in southeast Nigeria were dated to the C9th AD. In the
C16th and later Portuguese slave traders bought huge numbers of
indigo dyed cloths woven on these looms from the Ijebu and Benin
for sale in Congo, Gold Coast and even Brazil. In the C19th the
north eastern Yoruba and their neighbours wove large quantities
of cloths which were traded to the north. Among the central Oyo
Yoruba and in northern Nigeria women's weaving overlapped with
that of men using the double-heddle loom, but in other
districts, in particular among the Igbo in eastern Nigeria women
were the only weavers.
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Nupe woman
weaving in her home in the central Nigerian town of Bida,
1995. Photo (c) D.Clarke |
In the years
since the 1950s this kind of weaving has declined drastically in
both the Yoruba and Igbo speaking regions of Nigeria, partly
because it is an extremely slow and laborious process, but also
because women now have wider opportunities for trading,
education and other careers. In the south of Nigeria it only
survives today on a very small scale in a few areas where local
specialisations are still in demand, notably in the Yoruba town
of Ijebu-Ode, and far to the east in the Igbo village of Akwete.
In central and northern Nigeria, where there has been less
development, the picture is brighter. There are still a
relatively large number of women using these looms in the Ebira
town of Okene, the Nupe capital Bida, and in Hausa cities,
particularly Kano. Although these are largely traditions in
decline (except in Okene,) fine examples of older cloths can
still be found, and where the weaving continues, as in Akwete,
some very high quality new cloths are woven for local use.
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