When I was in graduate school, back in what seems like a former life, I had the extraordinary opportunity to do research in remarkably remote parts of the world - areas very few non-locals will ever see. The first such research experience was in Madagascar, where I was conducting the pilot study for my dissertation. While there, I became fascinated with the clothing worn by the local women. They would take locally produced fabric, fresh off the bolt, and wrap it around themselves in the most ingenious ways (locally called a lambawani). Not only was the fabric functional as clothing, but also as baby carrier, food transporter, and overall multipurpose tool. I decided to snatch up as much of this fabric as I could from the small local markets.
The field study for my dissertation took place in an extremely remote area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (it was still Zaire when I was there), off a tributary of the Congo River. Here, the fabric was sometimes worn in similar ways to that in Madagascar, but it was also often sewn into blouses, worn with a simple piece of fabric wrapped to make skirt on the bottom. Again, the fabric was used as an extension of the body to carry and support various things. This particular region was so remote that paper money was largely useless to the local people - they had no where to spend it. A barter system was the primary method to conduct business, and the most valuable object to barter with was fabric. New fabric could only be purchased in larger towns, the closest of which was at best a 2 day journey by dugout canoe. Needless to say, the local women were thrilled when new fabric was brought to the village to trade for food and services. So, before we left for our remote study site, we stocked up on a wide variety of fabric in Kinshasa, the capital city. Once a week during my stay, the local women would come to our camp loaded with fresh fruit, vegetables, bush meat, fish, eggs, and anything else they thought we might be able to use. We traded our bolts of fabric for the week's supply of food, and both sides were quite happy with the exchange. Once again, I brought home some of my favorite fabrics from that trip.
Here is some of my collection:
I probably should have purchased some of the more garish fabrics so that I would have a record of them. African fabric is often used to convey a moral message (i.e., I saw many fabrics with a print of condoms promoting safe sex), advertise a product, or relate some other message - not too different from our ever-present t-shirts.
If folks are interested, I could try to dig up some of my photos showing the local women and how they dressed. Their hair styles were also very creative, often taking the better part of a day to complete.
Very cool. A close friend of mine was in the Peace Corp in the Gambia and she used to bring me back fabric very similar to some of those. I would love to see your photos. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: myra | March 29, 2005 at 05:36 PM
And look where you ended up! Just kidding. Our dog is from Africa (well, okay, SHE isn't, but her breed is. They were found along the Congo, I believe). Great fabrics, and I would love to see some photos of the native dress!
Posted by: Mariko | March 29, 2005 at 07:41 PM
That's really wonderful. I Love that first one.
Posted by: Angela | March 29, 2005 at 08:21 PM
UAU!! :) i did the same when i was in tunisia...but i didn't have lots of money so i only bought 2 fabrics. :)
Posted by: raquel | March 30, 2005 at 02:53 AM
kelly that is awesome, i forgot that you were an anthropologist! i would love to see the pics too! do you miss fieldwork? i am in a point in my life where i dont want to do fieldwork, i want to stay home with my kids... but i know that someday i will miss it. i have a friend that is doing mission work in kenya right now, he has some wonderful pictures posted in his gallery. if you care to check it out... http://toby.spacetownusa.com/gallery/
Posted by: hannah | March 30, 2005 at 06:50 AM
Hi, thanks for your comment.
I would love to see some of those pics too!
Posted by: Camilla Engman | March 30, 2005 at 08:39 AM
Dear mister Fisher,
Living a few month in Tanzania I got impressed by the textiles of the
country. Specially by the khangas, but also by the kitenges. At home I
tryed to find out everything about them, which wasn't easy. Lots of
writings are about West African textiles, not that many about East
African. Going back to East Africa two years later I found out that
there had been some changes in the fabrics. Patterns had changed, also
quality and brands. One kind of kitenge, with GCA (Grand Continent
Africain)logo printed in the fabrics, got my special attention. I
liked the prints and quality was quite resonable. I did find a lot of
this fabrics in Uganda, a few in Kenya and Tanzania. The sellers in
Kenya and Tanzania told me this fabrics were coming from Uganda. Back
home I tryed to find out whether this fabrics are really being printed
in Uganda. Till now I couldn't find anything about them. The name of
the brand gave me the idea that they might be coming from a French
speaking country, but I do not know for sure offcourse. Could you
perhaps help me to find out where they are being manufactured? If you
can't, do you have any idea how or where I can try to?
With kind regards, Nora Oosting.
Posted by: Nora Oosting | November 19, 2005 at 10:30 AM