appropriation and use of Amazigh women’s art and motifs is described and assessed in book review Chapter 7. Increasing urbanization, political activities of artists promoting their Amazigh heritage, and the pressure on Amazigh women to assimilate with their Arab neighbors are also discussed. The paradoxical situation of male artists using the symbols of traditional women’s arts while those same arts are fast dis- appearing is noted but not critically evaluated. These final two chapters seem to diverge from Fashioning Africa: Power and the rest of the book, whose focus is primarily Politics of Dress on women and women’s arts. ed. by Jean Allman The strength of this book is the detailed Indiana University Press, 2004; descriptions of the components of the wed- ding among the Ait Khabbash. The transcrip- 256 pages, 36 b&w photos, tion and translation of songs sung during index. $50 cloth; $21.95 paper ritual activities is an important contribution to the study of gender expectations, language, reviewed by Joanne B. Eicher and lived experience among this group of peo- ple. The overall package, unfortunately, leaves Jean Allman’s edited volume on African dress something to be desired. adds substantially to research on dress as Becker’s main point seems to be that Ait nonverbal communication with its focus on Khabbash women, because they are weavers of power and politics. The book is a gem. I fol- textiles and are charged with ritual responsi- lowed its development from attendance at the bility, play an important public role in society, two panels of papers presented at the 2001 and that weaving gives women power and pres- African Studies Association meetings to its tige in Ait Khabbash society. Paradoxically, the publication in 2004, assigning it for my semi- data she presents shows that the seat of wom- nar on Dress and Culture, where it stimulated en’s power is their ability to bear Ait Khabbash lively discussion. The chapter contributors are children, particularly sons (p. 75). This power interdisciplinary, dominated by seven histo- is controlled first by a girl’s parents, who are rians, followed by two anthropologists, an art tasked with preserving her virginity until mar- historian, a dress scholar, and a communica- riage, and then by her mother-in-law (p. 160). part, well chosen and clear and it is obvi- tions specialist. Allman selected several writ- Weaving is a visual expression of the impor- ous Dr. Becker has had extensive experience ers already known to Africanists as having tance of a woman’s fertility both in her own among the Ait Khabbash and in Morocco in published books or articles on African dress, life and in the continued preservation of eth- general. But her data seem to be forced into such as Judith Byfield (2002), Margaret Jean nic identity. Young women are beginning to a mold that does not quite fit. Monni Adams Hay (1992, 1996), Elisha Renne (1995), Victo- question and rebel against the limited roles (1993), in her article on women’s arts in Côte ria Rovine (2001), and Phyllis Martin (1996). allowed them in Ait Khabbash society (p. 46), d’Ivoire, addresses many of the same issues Newcomers are Heather Akou, Marissa Moor- as evidenced by the new lyrics of hiwawi. If brought up by Becker. She describes the ways man, Andrew Ivaska, and Boatema Boateng. young women are questioning the narrowness in which men are said to “be in command and Allman’s phrase “the sartorial study of of this role, then it makes sense they would have the right to make all decisions” in both power” (p. 4) succinctly introduces the com- not want to learn to weave, an activity that is public and private spheres. She then goes on mon issues featured in the chapters. As a intimately related metaphorically to repro- to analyze the ways in which women’s arts of historian who normally deals with written duction. Becker acknowledges there is a para- house painting, making and decorating pot- documents in library or government archives, dox between being the creator of the artistic tery, and body painting of female initiates she points out that all contributors use “cloth- symbols of identity and being restricted by mark the domains where women exercise ing or dress as an enormously valuable, yet these symbols, yet this paradox is never fully power, contrary to the prevailing ideology. largely untapped, archive” (ibid.). Allman’s explored or analyzed. Perhaps if Becker’s data were analyzed more introduction also tackles the topic of moder- Another topic only touched on and a fer- closely and more detail provided regarding nity versus tradition, taking the stance that tile ground for analysis is the growing con- what men do as well as the local ideology of “tradition does not exist either prior to or flict, especially among young women, between men’s and women’s roles in Ait Khabbash soci- in opposition to the modern” (p. 5), and she Amazigh identity and Islam and how this ety, her thesis would be more successfully con- asserts that both tradition and modernity plays out through dress.A discussion of the veyed to the reader. can and do exist simultaneously. She points public and private spheres, a concept invoked out that textile examples used for dress and numerous times but never explained, would Bobbie Sumberg is curator of textiles and cos- thought of as traditional, such as mudcloth greatly enrich the book and give the reader a tume at the Museum of International Folk Art in from Mali and kente from Ghana, are used framework with which to evaluate the author’s Santa Fe. [email protected] effectively as a base for contemporary fash- statements. ions, and the chapters by Rovine on mudcloth I find no fault with the author’s research, References cited (“Fashionable Traditions: The Globalization data, or description. The use of song tran- Adams, Monni. 1993. “Women’s Art as Gender Strat- of an African Textile”) and Boateng on kente scripts adds depth to interviews, discussion, egy Among the Wè of Canton Boo.” African Arts 26 (“African Textiles and the Politics of Diasporic and observation. Illustrations are, for the most (4):32–43, 84. Identity-Making”) provide detailed analyses of

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10837 • 20808222 page:92 CMYK her point of this dual existence. of gender in “Changes in Clothing and Strug- transgressors. Ivaska analyzes the ban as one In addition to the themes of power and poli- gles over Identity in Colonial Kenya,” Marga- that related to larger issues than just “modern” tics, chapters illustrate how dress displays many ret Jean Hay establishes a baseline of the early fashions that seemed inappropriate to wear. other facets of identity, most particularly focus- 1900s for types of dress considered proper for He ties the uproar over fashion transgressions ing on gender. In “Remaking Fashion in the wear in specific situations by Kenyan men and to struggles within urban areas relating to gen- Paris of the Indian Ocean: Dress, Performance, women, adults and children. Many examples der and generational conflicts. In his view, the and the Cultural Construction of a Cosmpoli- provided only minimal coverage or appeared visibility of fashions became “extraordinary tan Zanzibari Identity,” Laura Fair pinpoints exotic, composed of skins, feathers, paint, or indices of social conflict, registering debates gender when she asserts that “new forms of wire, giving Europeans, whether residents or over national culture and ‘modern develop- dress were worn as public articulations of wom- travelers, “picturesque photo opportunities” (p. ment,’ the construction and crises of new fem- en’s new definitions of self” (p. 13). She begins 68). Dress during British rule from 1895–1915 ininities and masculinities, general conflicts her argument with a description of both men’s encompassed many of these examples, and over resources and contest over public space in and women’s dress in the nineteenth century also saw the emergence of new forms. Wear- a postcolonial capital” (p. 118). (for both freeborn and slave, high status and ing both indigenous forms and Western-style Also focusing on the wearing of miniskirts, low), giving as an example how, after abolition, clothing brought about criticism from Europe- this time in Zambia, Karen Tranberg Hansen, former slaves began appropriating formerly ans, for some outsiders protested that although asks the question, “What is it about miniskirts forbidden items. Also at that time, the cotton they believed European-style clothing was not that continues to provoke public ire about printed textile known as kanga took on signifi- appropriate, they nevertheless wanted naked- questions concerning culture, gender, and cance and became popular. Women began to ness to be covered with items such as wrappers sexuality?” (p. 166). She begins with a general create a new image for themselves, a cosmo- for women or a simple gown or tunic for men. discussion of the significance of the dressed politan image, by creating a hybrid mixture Hay develops her chapter around three conflicts body in her chapter, “Dressing Dangerously: from a variety of cultural styles formerly worn during the 1920s and 1930s in western Kenya Miniskirts, Gender Relations, and Sexuality in by people from many different backgrounds in regarding clothing and identity: 1) between Zambia,” and leads into an extended analysis Zanzibari history. Fair sees women’s selection of Christians and labor migrants and Luo tradi- of expected differences in Zambian society garments from a past that embraced both “Arab tionalists, (2) between elders and young men, for male and female dress. She contrasts reac- and African, slave and free” (ibid.) as their and (3) between fathers and daughters and hus- tions about the introduction of the miniskirt opportunity to display a Zanzibari national bands and wives. Her point is that individual in the late 1960s and early 1970s to its re-intro- identity. Her chapter is densely packed with and regional variation existed during that time. duction in the 1990s. Her chapter, like all of material that analyzes how dress became sig- She concludes by observing that at the time the chapters, is intricately argued and sub- nificant in various rituals and performance and of World War II, many types of dress, such as stantiated. She concludes that for Zambians, stimulated hybrid fashions. skins and beads, were gone, and “the men and “debates about miniskirts have diverged in In an example from the other side of the con- women of western Kenya were proudly claim- tenor because the socioeconomic and political tinent, Byfield, in “Dress and Politics in Post- ing an identity as modern Africans in modern circumstances against which they have played World War II Abeokuta (Western Nigeria),” clothes” (p. 79). out are different” (p. 180). discusses how many Yoruba elite during the Marissa Moorman and Andrew Ivaska, Jean Allman’s chapter also develops an late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in “Putting on a Pano and Dancing like our extended example of gender and dress in “‘Let rejected wearing items of Victorian dress intro- Grandparents: Nation and Dress in Late Colo- Your Fashion Be in Line with Our Ghanaian duced by British colonialists and returned to nial Luanda” and “Anti-Mini Miltants Meet Costume’: National, Gender, and the Politics wearing what were seen as “traditional” Yoruba Modern Misses: Urban Style, Gender, and the of Clothing in Nkrumah’s Ghana.” She covers outfits. Byfield argues that their act visibly illus- Politics of ‘National Culture’ in 1960s Dar Es historical materials about what was thought of trated to colonial authorities that the elite were Salaam, Tanzania” respectively, deal with the as the “problem of nudity” for women, particu- not only setting themselves apart from colonial 1940s through the 1960s in Angola and the larly in the northern area of Ghana. She unrav- authorities and values but also showing com- 1960s in Tanzania. Moorman uses the concept els some of the factors referring to “naked” and mitment, both political and cultural, to being of the global ecumene in regard to a series of “nude” as socially constructed concepts gener- Yoruba. Within Yoruba culture, the type and cultural practices that included clothing items ally, as well as specifically by colonial authori- quality of cloth were significant, and Yoruba worn by members of a cosmopolitan youth ties and missionaries in Ghana, who wanted wardrobes included imported textiles, such culture. Moorman emphasizes that cosmopoli- bodies to be covered with cloth and who did as velvet, as well as those locally woven. Also, tanism involves conscious decisions by people not believe that beads, skins, or leaves could fine embroidery, deep and rich colors (espe- about clothes, music, and dance styles, both count as dress. Two important references are cially indigo), along with the generous amounts as individuals and as members of a group. The neglected in the chapters by Allman, Hansen, of fabric used in a garment were important. Angolan scene was complex over time, for it Hay, and Ivaska. The first is an article by Ali Byfield strategically inserts the example of the involved first acceptance and then rejection of Mazrui, “The Robes of Rebellion: Sex, Dress, significance of dress to the members of the Western-style clothing, with the development and Politics in Africa” (1970), in which Mazrui Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU), a group of hybrid types such as panos (pieces of cloth, analyzed the definition of nakedness in Kenya concerned with social issues, including the role apparently wrappers) combined with Western- and Tanzania in the 1960s, analyzing the uproar of Mrs Funimalayo Ransom-Kuti, one of “Nige- style dress. Ivaska documents the history of over miniskirts in comparison with the mini- ria’s emerging intelligentsia” (p. 35) as a mover the ban on the miniskirt and other items such mal dress of the Masaii. The second is the vol- and shaker within it. Ransom-Kuti decided, as as wigs, skin-lightening creams, tight pants ume by Adeline Masquelier, Dirt, Undress, and she became a voice of the AWU on behalf of or dresses, and short shorts, which began on Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body’s many women’s issues, to wear the Yoruba head- New Year’s Day, 1969, and launched a cam- Surface (2005), which expands on the differ- tie (gele), wrapper (iro), and blouse (buba) and paign by the Youth League of Tanzania’s rul- ence between the concepts of “naked” and what to speak Yoruba to colonial authorities, even ing party TANU. Although the ban supposedly Masquelier calls “undress.” though she spoke fluent English. applied to dress infractions by both males and In contrast to debates over miniskirts, Deftly stressing change along with the theme females, primarily females were targeted as Heather Akou takes up what is worn by

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10837 • 20808222 page:93 CMYK Somali women who have left the African con- three major points. 1) For centuries, African tinent and relocated in metropolitan Min- dress has been permeated with meaning. 2) book review neapolis-St. Paul (the Twin Cities). She offers Identity is easily established through dress. an explanation of Somali women’s dress that 3) Exploring the political parameters of dress distinguishes them in a highly visible way provokes us as academics to reconsider some in their new locale as an important factor in of our analytical tools, such as a “predilec- Somali construction of their political past. She tion for negotiation.” In her appraisal of “the sees their way of dress as exemplifying a new fashioning of power,” Martin suggests that the type of national dress. A history of dress in authors illustrate not only the limits of hege- Somalia includes periods when both Somali mony but also the limits of negotiation with men and women could be found wearing vari- their data. Martin concludes, “Dress is sym- Museum Frictions: Public Cul- ous examples of Western dress (including the bolically powerful, made all the more so by its ture / Global Transformations miniskirt), but over time, in response to many monetary, emotive, moral, and aesthetic impli- Ed. by Ivan Karp, Corinne A. factors such as the dictatorship of Siad Barre, cations. Power resides in unexpected domains” Kratz, Lynn Szwaja, and Tomas women turned to wearing religious dress as (p. 230). A newspaper headline appeared as part of a growing commitment in general I was completing this review that chillingly Ybarra-Frausto, with Gustavo to Islamism. Thus, Akou sees the variations reinforces her conclusion: “Why Did 3 Die in Buntinx and Barbara Kirschen- of covering that Somali refugees wear in the Baghdad? For Wearing Shorts” (Gamel 2006). blatt-Gimblett Twin Cities as not only symbolic of a religious The article reports that leaflets distributed in Durham, NC: Duke University commitment, but also as a way of constructing two Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad warned Press, 2006. 602 pages, 70 b/w a way to announce that they are Somali. people not to wear shorts, because wearing Elisha Renne turns to a different topic in them violates Islamic principles by showing photos, 2 maps, bibliography, “From Khaki to Agbada: Dress and Politcal forbidden parts of the body; gunmen flagged index; $27.95 paper Transition in Nigeria,” and initially provides a car carrying an Iraqi tennis coach and two a history of the use of robes in Nigeria by tra- players who were wearing shorts and shot reviewed by Gwyneira Isaac ditional leaders before British rule and British them to death. introduction of khaki uniforms. She describes Few edited collections can lay claim to such a the use of khaki from mid-nineteenth century distinguished lineage and history as the vol- into the twentieth and the relationship of the Joanne B. Eicher is Regents Professor Emerita, ume Museum Frictions: Public Culture / Global British to indigenous Nigerians in regard to Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, Transformations. A cursory examination of the uniforms for the latter, when footwear was not University of Minnesota, and editor-in-chief of editors and authors reads like an ethnographer’s issued and various items of their uniform, such the forthcoming Berg Encyclopedia of World charting of the various key clans and moieties as long shorts, the Zouave jacket, and the fez, Dress and Fashion, to be published in 2010. of the museum world. Museum Frictions is the exoticized them as well, certainly clearly dif- [email protected] latest in an influential trilogy of edited vol- ferentiating them from British military. After umes, the first of which wasExhibiting Cultures independence in 1960, the Nigerian military References (edited by Ivan Karp and Steven D. Levine, adopted khaki uniforms that have continued, Byfield, Judith. 2002.The Bluest Hands: A Social and 1991), followed by Museums and Communities with only minimal change, into the twenty-first Economic History of Women Indigo Dyers in Western (edited by Karp, Christine Mullen Kreamer, century, although after independence, some Nigeria, 1890-1940. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann. and Levine, 1992). It is important to point out, leaders serving in civilian regimes wore civil- Gamel, Kim. 2006. “Why Did 3 Die in Baghdad? For however, that while these volumes now occupy ian dress. In one example, when Shehu Shagari Wearing Shorts.” Minneapolis Star Tribune. May 28, a central place within the canon of museum took over as president of the Second Republic p. A7. literature, the introduction of Exhibiting Cul- in 1979, he began to wear a distinctive civilian Hay, Margaret Jean. 1992. “Who Wears the Pants? Chris- tures was initially met with surprise by some for ensemble, in contrast to the uniforms charac- tian Missions, Migrant Labor, and Clothing in Colonial its critical examination of the cultural politics terizing the military rule of General Obasanjo, Western Kenya.” Discussion Papers in the African underlying how museums and their exhibits who preceded him. The phrase “khaki to Humanities, African Studies Center, Boston University. are shaped and interpreted. In counteracting agbada” was used to capture the idea of shift- ______. 1996. “Hoes and Clothes in a Luo Houswe- the Anglo-American-centricism of preexisting ing power from military to civilian rule. After hold: Changing Consumption in a Colonial Economy.” literature and including authors from all con- Shagari’s overthrow, khaki uniforms again In African Material Culture, eds. Mary Jo Arnoldi, tinents, Museum Frictions also now presents appeared. Thus, Renne recounts and analyzes Christraud Geary, and Kris Hardin, pp. 243–61. Bloom- another significant turning point in our under- ington: Indiana University Press. both khaki to agbada and agbada to khaki standing of how global politics structure muse- examples and offers a more complex set of fac- Martin, Phyllis M. 1996. Leisure and Society in Colonial ums and communities at the local, national and tors for consideration than that of a simple Brazzaville. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. international level. power shift symbolized by a change of gar- Mazrui, Ali A. 1970. “The Robes of Rebellion: Sex, Museum Frictions presents a rich selec- ment types. She declares that often members Dress, and Politics in Africa.” Encounter 34 (2):19–30. tion of essays that are required reading for of the public expressed skepticism about such Masquelier, Adeline, ed. 2005. Dirt, Undress, and Differ- museum scholars and is strongly recom- power shifts, for they did not believe that those ence: Critical Perspectives on the Body’s Surface. Bloom- mended for those interested in the interplay in charge who began wearing “robes” (agbada) ington: Indiana University Press. between regional organizations, international instead of military uniforms, actually changed Renne, Elisha. 1995. Cloth That Does not Die: The Mean- politics, tourism, and development aid agen- their orientation to power. ing of Cloth in Bunu Social Life. Seattle: University of cies. Although expanding their critique to the I am particularly fond of edited collec- Washington Press. global arena of museums is a natural progres- tions that end with an Afterword to leave the Rovine. Victoria. 2001. Bogolan: Shaping Culture sion for this distinguished group of editors reader with penetrating comments. Phyllis through Cloth in Contemporary Mali. Washington DC: (Ivan Karp, Corinne Kratz, Lynn Szwaja, and Martin provides a summary overview with Smithsonian Institution Press. Tomas Ybarra-Frausto), their sophisticated

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