Materialising Cultures: West African Diasporan En- Gagement with African Print in Britain
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Oboh, Ehinomen (2018)Materialising cultures: West African diasporan en- gagement with African print in Britain. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University. Downloaded from: http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/622448/ Usage rights: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Deriva- tive Works 4.0 Please cite the published version http://e-space.mmu.ac.uk Materialising Cultures: West African diasporan engagement with African print in Britain A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy; Ehinomen Oboh Manchester School of Art Manchester Metropolitan University October 2018 Abstract This thesis addresses a gap in our knowledge about the shifting meanings and practices associated with dress as it moves into diasporic cultural surroundings. Specifically, it looks at West African diasporans living in Britain (WADIB) and their engagements with African print. It does so by gathering stories of WADIB clothing experiences, alongside images of how they acquire, make, wear and keep their clothes. Academic research until recently has focused on dress in Africa, but largely ignored the contemporary use of African prints among diasporan communities. By moving beyond the African setting into a diaspora setting, this research expands our understanding of how meaning in dress is shaped, re-shaped, and more generally, the interrelationship of people and clothes, thus, contributing towards scholarship on contemporary dress in changing cultural contexts. This research also adds the African dress perspective to studies of transnational lives from the standpoint of other diasporans. This study reveals African print as largely a special occasion dress within the British diaspora unlike how it is used on the African continent. The research provides new insights about how living in the diaspora has encouraged individuals to modify and expand the range of looks present within African dress, and how such changes have in turn altered meanings of African print for its wearers. This study expands our understanding of the role that African print plays in forming cultural and social meanings including situations in which gendered social identities are assessed, negotiated and materially expressed. Another contribution of this study arises from its exploration of different qualitative methods of co-creating evidence. The study took a collaborative approach using community engagement to allow power sharing and participation as interdependent conditions of curatorial practice. It addressed identified challenges that curators and participants face in developing a framework in which the knowledge is generated from and through dynamic and ongoing social interactions between participants and the researcher. A specific innovation was using a call-in radio talk show as an addition to the existing range of qualitative research methods (notably interviews, participant observation and group workshops, sometimes known as focus groups) in order to enrich the possibilities for multi-methods qualitative research practice. i Dedication I dedicate this thesis to the memory of my father, Gabriel Ivbhakiomu Oboh (1920 - 2016), the Eson of Ukpoke, Uhiele Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. Dad, words cannot express my appreciation for all that you have done for me. I also dedicate this work to the memory of Mutallab Sarki (1960 - 2015), who allowed photographs of himself to be included in this thesis. I wish he had seen it. ii Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge my gratitude for the support and assistance provided by a number of people in bringing this work into completion. First, I give thanks to the Almighty God for His love and grace. To my Director of Studies, Dr Philip Sykas (Reader), thank you for believing in me, and giving me confidence. Your patience, genuine advice, and copious comments sustained me in finishing this work. To my supervisors, Professor Amanda Ravetz and Professor Alice Kettle, thank you for the unwavering support you provided throughout this process, and especially Professor Ravetz for teaching me to read closely. All your guidance has served me well. To my daughters, Osamudiamen Udoh, Michelle Agbobu and Tiffany Agbobu, you showed amazing support and love, and I will always be grateful. Although it was difficult, you always smiled and said, ‘Mum you got this’. Thank you for your love, sacrifice, and understanding. Omoye Oboh, Timothy Udoh and Isimemen Oboh deserve my sincere thank you for being a source of encouragement. I would also like to thank Philip Patch. I have never met an individual so kind. Thank you for always being there. I want to thank staff at MMU Library who were among my best teachers. In particular, I thank Sarah Shenton for her assistance through many frustrations. Finally, I offer huge thanks and gratitude to all the participants who generously contributed to this research sharing their stories and time with me in the workshops and interviews, let me into their events, shops, their homes, and even their wardrobes and bedrooms. A special thanks to those whose photographs are presented as part of this thesis. Many thanks to the members of Edo Group Manchester, Nigerian Women Group Manchester, Ghanaian Group Manchester, Sierra Leone Women Manchester, Wonderfully Made Women Group Manchester and Creative Hands Foundation Manchester for your supportive, challenging and friendly reflections on various occasions over the course of the co-creative work, particularly to help test out the early ideas in subgroup meetings. Additional thanks go 19Ja Radio (now called Radio Africana iii Manchester), my ‘Ankara-in-Diaspora’ guests, and online participants for their texts and calls that contributed to this thesis. Your participation, time, support and contribution in sharing your experiences with me made this thesis possible. I hope my analysis both reflects your experiences and provides a starting point for conversations that will be useful in the future. iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................... i Dedication ..................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... iii Chapter 1 : Introduction ................................................................................. 1 1.1 What the study is about and how it began .................................................... 1 1.2 Aims of the study............................................................................................ 2 1.3 What is ‘African print’? ................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 African print: a brief history ........................................................................ 4 1.4 My diasporan background .............................................................................. 7 1.5 The research background ............................................................................... 7 1.6 Chapter structure ......................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2 : Research Methodology and Fieldwork ........................................ 11 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Developments in the methodological choice .............................................. 13 2.2.1 Material-led practice ................................................................................. 14 2.3 Community in the context of engagement .................................................. 15 2.3.1 Community engagement ........................................................................... 16 2.3.2 Practices in community engagement research ......................................... 16 2.3.3 Curating community engagement ............................................................ 18 2.3.4 Co-creativity in community engagement .................................................. 19 2.3.5 Putting theory into practice ...................................................................... 20 2.3.6 Cultural demands on communication ....................................................... 22 2.4 The workshop approach ............................................................................... 25 2.4.1 Conducting group workshops ................................................................... 26 2.4.2 Difficulties and successes .......................................................................... 28 2.5 The ‘Engaged observer’ ................................................................................. 31 2.5.1 The role of the engaged observer ............................................................. 31 2.5.2 Advantages and challenges ....................................................................... 32 2.6 The ‘Participant interviewer’ ........................................................................ 34 2.6.1 The challenges ........................................................................................... 35 2.7 The ‘Talk show host’ ..................................................................................... 36 2.7.1 Advantages and limitations ....................................................................... 39 2.8 Picturing ourselves ......................................................................................