SHIFTING THE BOUNDARIES OF AKWETE- IGBO TRADITIONAL WEAVING: AN IMPERATIVE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IGBO TEXTILE INDUSTRY. Chika Chinyeogwa Chudi-duru, Ph.D, Email: [email protected] Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Nigeria. 08038279870 Abstract From the outset till date, cloth weaving in South Eastern Nigeria has always been within the confines of Ndoki town of Akwete in Ukwa East Local Government Area of Abia state. That could be the reason behind the intricately woven fabrics’ name called “Akwete”. It derived its name from the area it originated and still being produced till date. This study is predicated on the fact that this weaving tradition hardly thrives in other parts of Igbo land except in Akwete town, though they sometimes have some few apprentices from other parts of Igbo land and beyond. This is because the owners have put in a lot of rules and regulations which are enacted by weavers that are women. Thus, the weaving society in Akwete is based on matriarchy. This study’s objective is to determine the boundaries set by the weavers, state some reasons why the boundaries should be removed so that this art can be taught to non-indigenes freely and find out if it has any future for the Igbo weaving career, the society and upcoming weavers. A survey research design was adopted and a five point likert scale questionnaire with close ended statements was administered to the respondents. In depth interviews, focus group discussions and observations were also adopted as research instruments. This questionnaire was administered to some staff and students in three institutions in Abia state because they were considered to be knowledgeable enough to provide the answers needed for this study since they are in Abia State where these woven textiles are fabricated. The results were observed and analyzed using qualitative tool of photography and descriptive statistical tools of mean and standard deviation. One among the many findings of this study reveals that the weaving practice in Akwete town is not popular and the practice is not easily transferrable to other parts of Igbo land and beyond by way of apprenticeship. It summarily recommends that this practice should be exposed, introduced and taught to the younger generations be it in schools or in vocational centres in order to aid its’ sustainability. Keywords: Akwete woven fabrics, Woven textiles, Akwete traditional hand weaving industry, boundaries. Introduction Within and without the shores of Africa, many tribes have showcased and distinguished themselves in their manner of dressing through textile products, which are mostly manufactured indigenously by them. Because, they believe those textiles bear myriads of information that help in the conservation of African culture. Those textile products include weaving, painting, embroidery, printing, leather works and dyeing. For this purpose, Sands (2015) affirms that African textiles have been described as the “Indigenous newspaper”- a visual record and organic methodology that preserves traditional art forms”. In Africa, depending on the tradition of the people, weaving in textiles are executed by both men and women in cotton, silk, rayon, or wool after the women have spun the threads in preparation for weaving. Weavers then stretch the warp (the threads that form the foundation for the weft to cross) horizontally in the loom. According to Curnow (2018), the loom is set up with one or more heddles, a mechanism that pulls a particular set of threads out of the way; weavers use their hands or feet to manipulate them. During the weaving process, shuttles, which are in form of canoe-shaped wooden receptacles that hold the weft threads are used by these artists. They toss one or more of these 11 (depending on the amount of colours used) back and forth through the channel(s) the heddles produce. The resultant cloths sizes depend on the region they are produced in Africa. Some of them that are in strips are eventually cut to a standard length and sewn together side-by-side to form much wider cloths, while some do not come in stripes but rather as one large piece as the case may be. Referred to generally as narrow-strip cloth or men’s weaves, these textiles are worn by both men and women, examples are the Senegalese weavers of manjak cloth or the kente produced by the Akan of Ghana and the Ewe of Ghana and Togo. The weavers are professionals and often set their looms up in a group within public areas. The unsewn strips are usually sold in the market, while some buyers prefer to go straight to the manufacturers themselves for the original. These African textiles bear some cultural significance and are easily identified by the designs they bear. In West Africa, most communities engage in traditional hand weaving. Precisely in Nigeria, some communities produce some hand woven traditional textiles till date (Chudi- Duru, 2017). They make use of both the men’s horizontal loom and the women’s vertical loom. Onwuakpa (2017), notes that Nigeria has a tradition of cloth making and decoration. They cherish outfits, which showcase their culture and identity making them cultural conscious of their dress fashion considering the fact that every ethnic group has its own indigenous fabrics and dress styles that have stood the test of time. These indigenous cloths are mostly hand woven, exhibiting vibrancy in colours and array of sophisticated designs and patterns. These further explains that each culture evolves its own distinctive fashion that serves to distinguish it from another ethnic group. Among the communities that weave are the Yoruba, Nupe, Northern Edo, Tiv, Idoma, Ebira, Hausa, Igbo and many others. They usually produce narrow-strip cloth, which can be a plain or one-colour weave. In earlier times, Stripes have historically been popular. Curnow (2018) further mentions that they frequently produced woven cloths in a combination of undyed white cotton and varying shades of indigo blue. She observes that imported dyes and threads have been utilized to achieve a broad spectrum of colours. In some areas in Nigeria, weavers produce different design patterns, which consists of both simple and extremely complex patterns. The Igbo found in the South Eastern Nigeria has a weaving history. It is such that the name of the town and the fabric woven in that place bear the same name “Akwete”. Akwete Cloth is a unique hand woven textile produced in Igboland for which the town of Akwete in Abia state, Nigeria is famous. Women seldom weave in West Africa as Curnow (2018) observes, but in the case of the Igbo, it is totally different. Chudi- Duru (2017) shows that in Igbo land, women are the only ones that weave cloth with the aid of the women’s vertical loom and the weaving practice is only confined to Akwete town. It is usually in form of a cottage industry or involving in the women’s co-operative society. It is religiously and proudly guarded with some myth that discourages most women from teaching others. The women use a completely different type of loom than men in other parts of Nigeria and generally weave individually at home or in their women co-operative society’s office in the town of Akwete. She further affirms that it is an abomination for a man to get involved in cloth weaving business as it is traditionally gender defined. Ugochukwu (2019) is of the same view with Chudi-Duru (2017) and stresses that according to the tradition of the Akwete people, only women may weave the Mkpuru Akwete. This is to afford the women a source of empowerment that can never be taken away by the society, no matter how patriarchal it gets. This rule is taken so seriously that there are rumors of actual curses to be met by any man who intervenes in the weaving process. The weaving in the community is managed on a bigger scale by a co-operative society, set up and run by the women. This co-operative society sets agenda on issues such as the fabric quality and Copyright, while each woman produces what she wants on her own. Almost all families have looms on their verandas or terraces for the women to weave and not only are these women empowered, their voices as well are protected with regards to the progress of their trade. Chudi- Duru (2017) reveals that those permitted to weave Akwete fabrics are only the daughters of Akwete origin and the women married into Akwete town. Any other female is not really accepted to learn the weaving processes and practice it. The women are known to have started weaving according to oral history around 15th Century, about 1485 or so even before the British colonialists were said to have ventured into the interior. Since that time they have been in control of this weaving practice and all that concerns it, which enables it to remain under their control. 12 Referring to Sands (2015), African textiles are indigenous newspapers, which visibly display and express visually the culture of their owners through the designs placed on the fabrics for people to read. Chudi-Duru (2017) further explains that indigenous textiles are practical statements of textile artists in a particular society comprising their worldview current events in the society they live in or the world at large, features of the community, proverbs and idiomatic expressions. They are usually produced manually at all times using different types of textile materials. Akwete weaving and its products are part of African textiles. Thus, they are indigenous newspapers according to Sands (2015), which need to be accessible to as many as possible so as to be read.