Gold Coast Africa

African cloth on exhibit at university

CARSON – The brightly colored, geometrically patterned cloth called kente—made by the Asante (uh SAHN tee) people of Ghana and the Ewe (pronounced AY vay) people of Ghana and Togo—is the best known of all African textiles. In African American communities across the nation, kente is much more than mere cloth: it is a symbol of African pride and a powerful cultural icon. The “Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity” exhibit is being made possible through NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is brought to campus by Mid-America Arts Alliance. This version of “Wrapped in Pride” was developed by the University of California , Los Angeles Fowler Museum of Cultural History based on an earlier exhibition co-organized with the Newark Museum in Newark , New Jersey. Kente has its origins in the former Gold Coast of West Africa as festive dress for special occasions. It was traditionally worn by men as a kind of toga and by women as upper and lower wraps. Over the past 40 years, as kente’s popularity blossomed, the cloth has been used in hats, ties, bags, shoes, jewelry, and many other accessories worn on both sides of the Atlantic. Visitors to “Wrapped in Pride” will begin by exploring kente weaving traditions and seeing extraordinary examples of historic and contemporary kente—including some specifically set out for visitors to touch—and numerous objects incorporating its patterns. The exhibition also considers how kente of the Asante and Ewe cultures came to be used throughout Africa as garments and ceremonial cloth. Photographs and videos depicting the use of kente in contexts ranging from religious to commercial tell how this traditional art form was transmitted across the ocean, and how it changed as it was embraced around the world as an expression of African cultural identity and pride, worn by the likes of W.E.B. DuBois, Muhammad Ali, Spike Lee, and Nelson Mandela. A final section looks at the prominence of kente during the months of December, January and February, when the confluence of Christmas, Kwanzaa, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and African American History Month prompts its wearing and/or display in a variety of forms, and in church and/or graduation, when it symbolizes heritage, faith, and accomplishment.

GOLD COAST TRADING | LIVE FROM THE COAST

Although Kente, as we know it was developed in the 17th Century A.D. by the Ashanti people, it has it roots in a long tradition of weaving in Africa dating back to about 3000 B.C. The origin of Kente is explained with both a legend and historical accounts. A legend has it that a man named Ota Karaban and his friend Kwaku Ameyaw from the town of Bonwire (now the leading Kente weaving center in Ashanti), learned the art of weaving by observing a spider weaving its web. Taking a cue from the spider, they wove a strip of raffia fabric and later improved upon their skill. They reported their discovery to their chief Nana Bobie, who in turn reported it to the Asantehene (The Ashanti Chief) at that time. The Asantehene adopted it as a royal cloth and encouraged its development as a cloth of prestige reserved for special occasions.

Historical accounts trace the origin of Kente weaving to early weaving traditions in ancient West African Kingdoms that flourished between 300 A.D. and 1600 A.D. Some historians maintain that Kente is an outgrowth of various weaving traditions that existed in West Africa prior to the formation of the Ashanti Kingdom in the 17th Century. Archaeological research has dated examples of narrow-strip cloths woven in West Africa as early as the 11th Century A.D. and perhaps earlier. Some examples of woven fabrics have been found in the caves of the Bandiagara cliffs in Mali. These cloths used in burial ceremonies, probably, during the medieval Ghana, Mali and Soghai Empires, have technical and aesthetic features similar to many of the narrow-strip cloths in many parts of West Africa. Such cloths which the Akans call “Nsaa” are important components of scared royal paraphernalia in most Akan royal courts today and are know to have been traded with articles of prestige by Akan Kings and chiefs early in the 17th Century. Many features of such cloths appear in the early and later narrow-strip cloths woven in Ashanti. Given these historical accounts, it is believed that the Ashanti craftsmen might have learned weaving skills from other peoples living North and West of them and later developed their unique style of cloth.