Textile Ascendancies: Aesthetics, Production, and Trade in Northern Nigeria

Renne, Elisha P.; Maiwada, Salihu

doi:doi:10.3998/mpub.10176049

Textile Ascendancies: Aesthetics, Production, and Trade in Northern Nigeria

Elisha P. Renne and Salihu Maiwada, Editors 2020

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Until this century, Northern Nigeria was a major center of textile production and trade. Textile Ascendancies: Aesthetics, Production, and Trade in Northern Nigeria examines this dramatic change in textile aesthetics, technologies, and social values in order to explain the extraordinary shift in textile demand, production, and trade.

Textile Ascendancies provides information for the study of the demise of textile manufacturing outside Nigeria. The book also suggests the conundrum considered by George Orwell concerning the benefits and disadvantages of "mechanical progress," and digital progress, for human existence. While textile mill workers in northern Nigeria were proud to participate in the mechanization of weaving, the "tendency for the mechanization of the world" represented by more efficient looms and printing equipment in China has contributed to the closing of Nigerian mills and unemployment.

Textile Ascendancies will appeal toanthropologists for its analyses of social identity as well as how the ethnic identity of consumers influences continued handwoven textile production. The consideration of aesthetics and fashionable dress will appeal to specialists in textiles and clothing. It will be useful to economic historians for the comparative analysis of textile manufacturing decline in the 21st century. It will also be of interest to those thinking about global futures, about digitalization, and how new ways of making cloth and clothing may provide both employment and environmentally sound production practices.

Series

African Perspectives

ISBN(s)

978-0-472-12663-7 (ebook)
978-0-472-05444-2 (paper)
978-0-472-07444-0 (hardcover)

Subject

Citable Link

Fig00_01. A grayscale etching of Kanu City. A line of camels and people walk into the city, which is filled with low, white buildings. In the foreground, four people retrieve water from a stream.

Scene of Kano seen from Dala Hill

From Introduction

Fig. 0.1. Etching of Kano, seen from Dala Hill, 1850, from Heinrich Barth (Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, vol. 1, New York: Harper Brothers, 1857, p. 500.)

Fig01_01. Hausa woman weaving on vertical single-heddle loom in Zaria.

Hausa woman weaving on vertical loom

From Chapter 1

Fig. 1.1. Hausa woman weaving on vertical single-heddle loom in Zaria City, January 1995. (Photograph by E. P. Renne.)

Fig02_01. Young woman with bracelets and necklace, wearing cotton cloth print with peacock pattern.

Woman wearing peacock design cloth

From Chapter 2

Fig 2.1. Young woman wearing cotton cloth print with peacock (mai ɗawisu) pattern, Zaria City. (Photograph of photograph by E. P. Renne.)

Fig03_01. Hausa man weaving on wide-width horizontal loom in a northern Nigerian village.

Man weaving on wide-width loom

From Chapter 3

Fig. 3.1. Malam Iliyasu Muhammad, weaving on wide-width loom (masaƙin mudukare), Sabon Garin Ƙayyu, November 11, 2017. (Photograph by AbdurRahman S. Maiwada.)

Fig04_01. A line of textile mill workers with spindles producing thread for weaving.

Workers at Nortex spinning mill Kaduna

From Chapter 4

Fig. 4.1. Workers at the Nortex (Nig) Limited mill in Kaduna, overseeing spindles producing yarn, November 14, 1962. (Photograph by Bello, courtesy of the Kaduna State Ministry of Information.)

Fig05_01. A Kano textile mill with rows of tables with sewing machines, thread, and cloth.

Equipment for garment production--Adhama Textiles, Kano

From Chapter 5

Fig. 5.1. Production of jersey materials and custom printed T-shirts at the Adhama Textiles Garment Industry Ltd. mill, Bompai Industrial Area, Kano, January 24, 2017. (Photograph by E. P. Renne.)

Fig06_01. Women’s outfit made of cloth depicting interlocking rings with imitation embroidery along the sleeve edges.

Women's dress with Chinese materials, Kano

From Chapter 6

Fig. 6.1. Women’s dress top and wrapper, made with textile materials imported from China, with imitation of embroidery along the sleeve edges, November 2017, Kano. (Photograph by Hannatu Hassan.)

Fig07_01. Stencil-printed cotton textile made at Ahmadu Bello University-Zaria.

Stencil-printed textile, Ahmadu Bello University-Zaria

From Chapter 7

Fig. 7.1. Stencil-printed cotton textile, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 2018. (Courtesy of the Dept. of Industrial Design Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.)

Fig08_01. Cotton print textile with the phrase, “Guaranteed English Wax,” printed on the selvedge.

ABC brand wax-print textile

From Chapter 8

Fig. 8.1. ABC cotton print textile referred to as Leaves, with the phrase “Guaranteed English Wax” printed on the margin. This cloth is owned by Hajiya Amina, Tudun Wada, Kaduna. (Photograph by E. P. Renne, November 24, 2017.)

Black and white photograph showing Kaduna family members wearing cotton print garments.

Photograph of family wearing cotton print textiles

From Introduction

Studio family photograph from Kaduna depicting Hajiya Amina and her children wearing fashionable cotton print textiles with different designs, Kaduna, 1970 (photograph of photograph taken by E. Renne).

Kano court official wearing a white robe and glossy blue-black turban.

Court official, black turban, Kano

From Introduction

Court official, Kano, wearing glossy ɗan Kura blue-black turban (Courtesy of the Duckworth Collection, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University).

Young woman wearing Fulani woman’s handwoven dress. The dress is white, embroidered with diamond patterns between vertical bands of black, green, and red thread.

Fulani women's dress, handwoven cloth

From Introduction

Young woman modelling a style of Fulani woman’s dress made of handwoven mudukare cloth, used in a photo studio in Zaria, 2006 (photograph by Salihu Maiwada).

Bunu Yoruba woman weaving on vertical single-heddle loom.

Bunu woman weaving on vertical loom

From Chapter 1

Bunu Yoruba woman weaving vertical single-heddle loom in Agbede-Apaa-Bunu, Bunu District, Kogi State, November 1987 (photograph by E.P. Renne).

Cloth handwoven by a Bunu woman on a vertical single-heddle loom with handspun, indigo-dyed thread.

Bunu wide-width indigo handwoven cloth

From Chapter 1

Handwoven cloth made with handspun, indigo-dyed thread. This two panels of this cloth, which was woven on a vertical, single-heddle loom by a Bunu women, has several stripes, with very subtle shades of blue-black warp thread and two very narrow white warp stripes at each panel edge. This cloth was collected in 1988 in Akutupa-Kiri, in the northern part of Bunu District, which borders on the Niger River near Egga. Purchased in Akutupa-Kiri, Bunu District, Kogi State, 1988 (photographed by E. Renne).

Oliphant company trade mark showing a horse and rider.

Oliphant trademark, horseman

From Chapter 2

Oliphant trade mark, horseman the translation of the Hausa word “Maidoki” appearing on the Mark is “Horseman”. The transliteration of the Arabic Characters appearing on the Mark is “G.B. OLLIVANT LIMITED” (Official Gazette No. 31, Vol. 43, 3 May 1956).

Two women wearing cotton print wrappers with mat pattern.

Studio photograph, mat pattern cloths

From Chapter 2

Studio photograph of women wearing cotton print wrappers with mai tabarma (mat) pattern, Zaria City, 1970 (photograph of photograph, owned by Alhaji Yusuf Abdullahi).

Cloth sample showing peacock pattern collected in Zaria.

Cloth sample, peacock pattern

From Chapter 2

Cloth sample collected in Zaria by Salihu Maiwada from textiles marketed during the 1980s in the area. (Zaria, courtesy of Salihu Maiwada, photograph of photograph by E.P. Renne.)

Head weaver in one Nigerian village, showing the different types of handwoven cloth.

Weaver and handwoven textile samples

From Chapter 3

Alhaji Usman Ƙayyu is the head weaver of Sabon Garin Ƙayyu village, showing the different types of handwoven cloth which he has woven. He is holding an ilajo cloth, while a mudukare cloth is draped over his left shoulder and a saƙi cloth is on his right, Sabon Garin Ƙayyu, 11 November, 2017 (photograph by AbdurRahman S. Maiwada).

Three men sit at wide-width horizontal looms, each working with different colors of thread which stretches several feet in front of them.

Weavers, wide-width loom, Minjibir

From Chapter 3

Weavers in Gidan Gabas, near Minjibir, using mudukare looms to produce warp-striped, wide-width textiles in patterns associated with older Hausa handwoven textiles. Both older and younger men are involved in handweaving in this area, 11 February 2018, Gidan Gabas (photograph by Ashiru Abdullahi).

Several students, wearing Fulani-style garments, presenting a dance skit at school graduation.

Students, Fulani dress, Zaria

From Chapter 3

Students at the Maude International School graduation exercises presenting a Fulani-style dance skit wearing mudukare style cloth made with industrially woven cloth, 18 November 2017, Zaria (photograph by E. Renne).

Artist’s depiction of future Kaduna Textiles Limited mill.

Kaduna Textiles Limited mill, Kaduna

From Chapter 4

Artist’s depiction of the mill to be constructed at Kaduna, 1955 (courtesy of the David Whitehead & Sons archival collection).

Cotton textile sample swatch printed in Kaduna.

Kaduna Textiles Ltd cloth samples

From Chapter 4

Kaduna textile sample swatches, from and May 2001 (left) and October 1997 (right), printed at the Northern Nigerian Textiles Mill (photograph by E. P. Renne, courtesy of Kaduna Textiles Ltd, Kaduna).

Kaduna Textiles Ltd cloth samples 2

Kaduna textile sample swatches, from and May 2001 (left) and October 1997 (right), printed at the Northern Nigerian Textiles Mill (photograph by E. P. Renne, courtesy of Kaduna Textiles Ltd, Kaduna).

Weavers using mechanized looms at a Kano textile mill in the 1950s.

Kano Citizens Trading Co looms

From Chapter 5

Weavers working with mechanized looms at the Kano Citizens Trading Company Ltd. (later known as Kano Textile Mills-Gwammaja) in the 1950s, Kano.

Textile depicting photographs of “H.E. Chief James Onanenefe Ibori” and of “H. E. Senator Ifeanyi Athur Okowa” beneath a large umbrella reading “PDP.”

African Textile Mill-political cloth

From Chapter 5

Textile manufactured by the African Textile Mill Ltd., Kano, for the political campaign of Senator Ireanyi Okowa (r), who was elected governor of Delta State in 2015. The photograph of the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori (May 1999-May 2007) is on the left. The umbrella is the political logo of the People’s Democratic Party (photograph by A. DanAsabe, Kano).

Kano market scene with men unloading wax-print textile bundles.

Kantin Kwari market textile traders

From Chapter 6

Kantin Kwari market scene, with lorry off-loading wax print textile bundles, Unity Road, July 2013, Kano (photograph by Hannatu Hassan).

Textile trader-broker in Kano market shop.

Textile-trader-broker Shafi'u Abdulkadir

From Chapter 6

Textile trader-broker, Alhaji Shafi’u Abdulkadir, 2017, Kano (photograph by Hannatu Hassan).

Large warehouses used for storing textiles near Kano market.

Textile warehouses Kano

From Chapter 6

Large warehouses used for storing textiles near Kantin Kwari market, November 2012, Kano (photograph by Elisha Renne).

Hand block-printed textile made at Ahmadu Bello University-Zaria.

Hand-blocked textile print ABU

From Chapter 7

Hand block-printed textile, 2018 (Courtesy of the Dept. of Industrial Design ABU, Zaria).

Screen-printing textiles at the Northern Nigerian Textiles Mill, Kaduna.

Waziri screen-printing at NNT mill Kaduna

From Chapter 7

Mohammadu Yahaya Waziri lining up the screen (registering) for screen-printing textiles at the Northern Nigerian Textiles Mill in Kaduna, 1983 (photograph courtesy of Mohammadu Yahaya Waziri).

Cloth imported from China known as “throw-away” print cloth, with pattern imitating handwoven Nigerian textile.

Throw away print Chinese textile

From Chapter 8

An example of cloth known as yar da atamfa (“throw-away” print cloth) in Kano and roba-roba (rubber-rubber) in Zaria. The cloth made in China that sold for N1,300 in Zaria City market in January 2017. It has a heavy rubbery hand and is very shiny. This cloth is also an example of manufactured cloths which are made to imitate the appearance of handwoven strip textiles (photograph by E. Renne).

Imitation Vlisco cotton print textile

From Chapter 8

Imitation Vlisco cloth for sale in shop in Zaria, selling for N5,000 for six yards. Despite the label’s claim, this cloth was manufactured in China. The intentional mis-spelling, Vlisco, suggests the company’s attempt to avoid a copyright suit, Tudun Wada, Zaria, November 2017 (photograph by E. Renne).

Detail of handwoven blanket, made with handspun natural and indigo-dyed cotton thread.

Handwoven cotton blanket Kano

From Chapter 8

Detail of luru zubwa handwoven blanket, made with handspun natural and indigo-dyed cotton thread, consisting of nine 6” handwoven strips which have been handsewn together; the width of these strips suggest that the cloth was woven in a village near Kano (Lamb and Holmes 1980: 109). The triangular shapes are called aska, (knives). Purchased in Kurmi Market, Kano, December 1994 (photograph by E. Renne).

Blanket being woven at Kano textile mill.

Industrially woven blanket Kano

From Chapter 8

Blanket being woven at the Northern Textiles Manufacturers—NTM (Gidan Bargo), Bompai Industrial Area, Kano, 29 October 1966 (photograph by Francis Uher, courtesy of the Ministry of Information, Kaduna).

Smart phone image of Kano-based trader showing blanket to be ordered in China.

Smart phone image of Chinese blanket

From Chapter 8

Smart phone with image of the Kano-based trader, Alhaji Shafi’u Abdulkadir, showing the type of acrylic blanket to be ordered from a Chinese blanket manufacturer in Baoding by his Chinese broker, Guangzhou, December 2014 (photograph by E.P. Renne).

Map of the Sokoto Caliphate ca. 1880

From Chapter 1

Map 1.1. Map of the Sokoto Caliphate ca. 1880 (Kriger 1990, 40; map by the Cartographic Office, York University). (Courtesy of Colleen Kriger.)

Bunu District map showing market routes used by weaver-traders.

Map of Bunu textile trade routes

From Chapter 1

Map 1.2. Map of Bunu District indicating market routes used by Bunu weavers. (Renne 1995, 140.)

Map of northeastern Nigeria indicating nineteenth-century trade routes.

Map of Hausa trade routes 1800-1850

From Chapter 2

Map 2.1. Map of Kano-Zaria-Sokoto-Jega, indicating earlier trade routes, which led north to Agades and onto Tripoli and south to Ilorin and Badagri, 1800–1850. (Bovill 1922, opposite page 50.)

Map indicating Kano State towns and the road linking Kano-Zaria-Kaduna.

Kano State map, Kano, Ƙayyu

From Chapter 3

Map 3.1. Map indicating Kano State towns of Gwarzo, Kura, and Wudil as well as the road linking Kano-Zaria-Kaduna. Road Map of Nigeria, drawn, printed, and published by Federal Survey Department, Lagos, Nigeria, 1955. (Courtesy of the University of Michigan Library, Stephen S. Clark Map Library.)

Map of Niger showing smuggling routes into northern Nigeria.

Textiles smuggling routes, Benin-Niger-Nigeria

From Chapter 4

Map 4.1. Map of Niger showing smuggling route through Benin, Niger, and Nigeria. (Gaya-Birnin Konni-Maradi-Kano; produced by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 2000.)

Map of Kano metropolis, indicating Syrian Quarters, market, and industrial areas.

Map of Kano City

From Chapter 5

Map 5.1. Map of Kano metropolis, indicating Syrian Quarters, City Market (Kasuwa Kurmi), and Bompai Industrial Area. Drawn and reproduced by Federal Drawing Department, Lagos, Nigeria, 1958. (Courtesy of the University of Michigan Library, Stephen S. Clark Map Library.)

Open external resource at https://umich.maps.arcgis.com