RITUALS AND SYMBOLISM OF INDIGO TEXTILE DYEING TECHNOLOGY

PRODUCTS IN OSOGBO, NIGERIA

BY

OWOEYE OMOTAYO IDOWU OKE

SUPERVISORS

PROFESSOR O. B. LAWUYI

PROFESSOR D. A. AREMU

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In today’s world of indigo dyeing, very few locations or even none has its oral history

linked to its establishment in Nigeria except Osogbo popularly called “The Home of Dye”. The

indigo dyeing market in Osogbo may not be as pronounced as Abeokuta where there is a

recognized international market for dyed products (Owoeye, 2010) or the dyeing pits of Kano

that is mainly male dominated. Despite the inconspicuous dyeing market in Osogbo, there is a

subtle and salient uniqueness in the quality of its products and the natural aesthetics on the dyed

textiles. Osogbo’s textile dyeing technology and industry is also perceived cultural connection as

a reflection of the annual Osun-Osogbo festival. Another unique characteristic of the Osogbo

indigo textile dyeing technology and the product is the communicative power of the technology,

which reflects the culture and beliefs of the environment especially of the Yoruba people as

observed by Owoeye (2010). This reinforces some cultural facts in the environment. However,

the curiosity behind this research was fired up when the researcher raised questions concerning

the whats and hows of the indigo textile dyeing technology industry on the issues of rituals and

symbolism in the technology of the indigo textile dyeing in Osogbo. The curiosity is based on

what determines the production of the dyed textiles and their effects on the market? How the

indigo textile dyeing industries synchronize their visions at each stage of the production? How

does the industry interpret colour symbolism knowing there is blue-black coloration in indigo

dyeing and the proverbs used by the industry and consumers in Osogbo? How are the artistic

matrix expressed by the components and motifs on these dyed textiles? These questions have led

to the curiosity to embark on an in-depth and thick descriptive study of the rituals and symbolism

in indigo textile dyeing technology industry in Osogbo, Nigeria.

Although, African textiles had been admired for a long time, dating back to the Greek

and Roman times. The precise origin of cloth production in Africa is however inexact,

archaeological findings indicated some earliest sites. For instance, the drawings of looms in the

tombs and linen remnants can be seen in the ancient Egypt, and this dates back to at least 2000

BC and 5th century AD respectively. Archaeologists have also discovered cotton cloth remnants

in the 5th century AD, woven fibre pieces in Nigeria, and this was as far back as 9 th century AD.

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There had been evidence of woven cotton cloth and loom in Mali and in Mauritania about the

11th century AD.

Of course, human beings have created and manufactured textiles of different kinds

depending on climate, available materials, the need to protect themselves from weather and the

environment. In addition to satisfying human needs for covering and adornment, textiles and

clothing provides an avenue for aesthetic expression for weavers, tailors, cloth designers and the

productive forces in the indigo textile dyeing technology. This is not neglecting the use of

textiles and clothing as status symbols. There is also the dimension of the technology and

business, expressed either in its production or consumption, as a lucrative venture. Any person

can go into the business. The rationale is that there is always a ready market for clothing and the

indigo-dyed textile in particular. The growth of the indigo-dyed textile is, hence, determined by

the expertise of the productive forces, the entrepreneurial orientation and intelligence of the

productive forces. But marketing is determined primarily by the functions the indigo-dyed textile

perform either as a status symbols, communication symbols or power symbols due to the motifs

on the textiles which are an extension of symbolism and ritualism ranging from social to cultural

differentiation.

From all indications clothing in Africa had experienced different evolutions. The

technology is becoming more and more complex, though the use of ever increasing materials

fabricated for the purpose of adornment rather than simple covering of man’s nakedness. For

centuries, the textiles and garments have been produced domestically for household and village

community (Bowie, 1993 and Khaminwa, 2010) and commercially for bartering or sale.

Although, the earliest cloth was made primarily of local fibres, today’s African textiles and

clothing incorporate a wide variety of materials and styles.

This evolution of textile and clothing tradition is the cumulative consequence of human

desires to create a symbol of their image and represent different realities of their environment on

textiles as much as technological innovations permit. The word ‘technology’ conjures different

images in the minds of different people. Mojola (1988) stated in broad terms that technology si

any practical art which utilizes scientific knowledge however this definition is a mechanical

definition. Fadahunsi (1986) as quoted by Okpoko (1999; ) has defined technology as a scientific

knowledge aimed at satisfying the basic needs and objectives of man. Technology is, hence, part

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culture, and if we were to accept Tylor, Kroeber and Leach’s views, the textile production is a

product of symboling. Every indigo-dyed textile may be a cultural product. It is also a product of

a society where there are many productive forces and group behind its emergence, production

and marketing. It is a societal product that involves social relations, the consolidation of ties and

the expressions of power; stylistically it is connected to political and economic shifts (Schneider,

1987). The critical question thus, is about the rituals and symbolism that the productive forces

behind indigo textile dyeing technology have created through their products in Osogbo, Nigeria.

The Yorubas of Nigeria prepare indigo-dyed cotton called adire eleso. The artists sew

finely detailed patterns onto the cloth using raffia or cotton thread, then take the cloth to a dyer

known as alaro, who is said to work under the protection of the Yoruba spirit; Iya Mapo. This

may be a contestable fact among other groups. Nonetheless, the Yoruba women cloth dyers,

known as aladire, use resist dye to make adire eleso. They use cassava paste to paint or stencil

repeated symbolic abstractions of animals, plants, events onto the cloth. After dyeing the cloth

indigo blue, they beat it with a wooden stick until it attains a bright glossy sheen.

Recent observations in the technology of adire making indicate that despite impact of

foreign influences, and a dwindling economic condition and Yorubas have incorporated imported

material textiles and styles into the mainstream of their indigo textile dyeing traditions. The

technology and its products are deeply ingrained into the Yoruba culture through a complex

symbolic syntax. But then, for our research, why are they created? And what do they mean?

What are the rituals associated with production and consumption?

Through evolution, man has acquired the capacity to use symbols to connote concepts

and once man has formed a symbolic concept of a thing or a process, we can play with it in our

imagination. And a symbolic concept can be related to another concept and thereby extending

our understanding of reality at a symbolic level. The use of imagination expresses this process of

symbolization or symbolism which is not an illusionary escape from reality (Castoriadis, 1975).

The use of symbols has created a language that transcends differences in culture, place and time.

Human beings appear to have a symbolic capacity to express ideas, and an understanding of life

through the language, art, crafts and technology. This means that language, arts, crafts and

products of technology could go into extinction if there were not a symbolic function.

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This thesis focuses on an ancient and still vital art of indigo-dyed textile technology

industry in Osogbo and examines the products in terms of the rituals and symbolism. It attempts

to identify the communicative intension of the productive forces, the dynamics involved in the

production and consumption of the textiles and the social relationships created for the productive

forces.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The production and consumption of textiles are major creative activities in West-African

cultures especially among the Yorubas. The underlying concept of this study is not hinged on the

techniques of indigo textile dyeing technology which has been researched and discussed by

Owoeye (2010) and Eicher, (1975) but the symbolic syntax, rituals and functions attached to the

production of the indigo textile among the people of Osogbo, Nigeria.

As a major trade item, textiles are a form of barter money. Dyed fabric has additional

value (Marietta, 1978; Owoeye, 2010; Eicher, 1975; Khaminwa, 2010 and Roberts, 1984)

because the process of extracting indigo from plants is a highly labourious process involving the

transformation of substance. The overall complexion has one identifiable feature: the massy of

clearly visible, countable units culminating in fabrics of great monetary worth and high aesthetic

value. The patterns which emerge in indigo cloth often incorporate a symbolic language that

communicate or announces social facts.

Man creates a symbolic universe to intermediate between him, nature and society which

are the source of his control over nature and over his social destiny. The creation of symbols is

the capacity of man to transform his natural, objective reality into a special universe that he

constitutes from within himself (Ellul, 1978). No wonder White (1962) stated that there is a

fundamental difference between the mind of man and the minds of all other species. Only the

mind of man has the ability to originate and bestow meanings upon things and events and to

comprehend such meaning bestow by others. Ellul confirmed that symbolism is characteristic of

Homo sapiens but it is also the key to his success. But what are symbols? Symbol is an image

which acquires symbolic values through the emotions and the feelings it evokes in man. At the

same time, it cannot be consciously inverted like a mathematical or a chemical formular

(Spottiswood, 2008). Jung described symbolic meaning as a symbol that points to more than our

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consciousness can know and in symbolic images can create a bridge between the known and the

unknown. It is something unconscious becoming connected with the conscious thereby creating

the understanding of new and deeper meaning (2010).

Most scholars have discussed indigo-dyed textile as man’s avenue to meet his aesthetic

needs, dominate his environment and express and communicate social facts (Marrietta, 1978;

Owoeye, 2010; Eicher, 1975; Patrick, 2008). But they have not realized that in order to

accomplish the transformation of a cloth into a dyed-textile, it is necessary that the cloth become

other than a simple piece of cloth and be symbolized as something else. According to Ellul

(1978), if man transforms the real into a universe in which he has power, which is the power he

bestows upon and attributes to himself then he can conceive that he is also capable of dominating

the real world.

This development might have influenced Renne and Agbaje-Willliams (2005) connection

of cloth to religious practices among the Yorubas. The focus range from white clothes to hand-

woven cloth among Islam, Christians, traditionalists and cult groups. Attention was called to the

use of the indigo-dyed textile among the people of Owo as a ritual cloth to perform ero rituals.

Only men who have acquired sufficient wealth and stature could afford to organize the rituals.

Their study neglects the focus of our own orientation, the rituals and symbolism of the dyed-

textile. Eicher (1975) also discussed the history of dyes, the emergence of other natural and

synthetic dyestuffs, and the wide variety of domestic sources of dye and neglected the rituals and

symbolism involved. But in the work of Schmidts (1997), there was a focus on rituals of iron

smelting in East Africa. His approach is adopted here.

The research questions of the study borders upon the intension of the productive forces: is

it for profit, mere consumption or is there any other motive other than the aforementioned? What

are the social relationships created among the productive forces? How do the products of the

technology mobilize the productive forces and synchronize the vision of the productive forces at

each stage? How do the indigo textile dyeing technology products affect market dynamics of the

products’ market? How has colour symbolism affected the production of the indigo textile? How

are the artistic matrix expressed by the components and motifs on these dyed textiles? The study

adapts the use of interpretive method and cognition to create the symbolism and rituals

performed in the course of production and marketing.

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AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The fundamental aim of this study is to understand how indigo-dyed textile is a symbol

that creates and perpetuates natural facts and influences the traditional thought system of the

Yorubas. The study anticipates issues of how technology enables and disables situation. It

intends to indicate how the productive forces synchronize their visions and how the energy they

generate is sustained. The specific objectives of this study are:

i. To explain the factors determining the production of the dyed-textiles and their

effects on the market;

ii. To appraise the methods adopted by the productive forces to synchronize their visions

at each stage of the production and how their energy is generated and sustained;

iii. To observe and interpret colour symbolism and proverbs used by the productive

forces and consumers in Osogbo

iv. To highlight and describe the rituals associated with the production of indigo-dyed

textile in Osogbo and;

v. To identify the aesthetic matrix expressed by the components and motifs on these

dyed textiles.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This thesis focuses on an ancient and still vital art of indigo-dyed textile technology

industry in Osogbo and examines the products in terms of the rituals and symbolism. It attempts

to identify the rituals and symbolism in the technology of indigo textile dyeing and the dynamics

involved in the production and consumption of the textiles and the social relationships created

for the productive forces.

Symbolism and ritualism has been a subject of epistemological discourse among several

scholars and writers for ages. Since the early period of Greek philosophy, epistemological

problems have been concerned with the relation of particular to universal, sense-perception to

form. Several scholars such as White (1962) and Wilhelm (1964) tried to balance the definition

and description of the concept of symbolism but Firth (1973) claimed that most anthropological

treatment of symbols have focus on the interpretation of the relationship between symbol and the

object symbolized. Several studies have looked at clothes and textile objects in several societies

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from the ‘what’ angle of exploring the symbolic object, on the whole. But this study is an

attempt at ethnographic exploration of what and how the symbolism and rituals in indigo textile

dyeing technology.

This study is an input that will be beneficial to the anthropological inquiry, field work on

place-making. It is an attempt to examine how the productive forces of indigo textile dyeing

technology create a significant and meaningful symbolic universe. And how the symbolic

universe is communicated and ingrained in the culture and consciousness of the people as well as

the construction of peoples’ everyday experience.

The study is to direct Government to the need for appropriate investment in the

indigenous technologies as an avenue to proper and right development and the alleviation of

poverty. Instead of the adoption of foreign alleviation programme that can never be sustained.

This study will give intellectual fulfillment and satisfaction to the discourse on

symbolic/interpretive anthropology concerning rituals and symbolism in indigenous technology.

It is also to prove that the study of culture is predicated upon the distinctive trait of man that he is

a creator and user of symbols. And that he has speech to express the excellencie of mind over

other creatures.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The study principally reflects on the symbolism and rituals in indigo technology products

among productive forces and consumers in Osogbo, Nigeria. It purposively focuses on the

intension of the productive forces in producing the indigo-dyed textile. It relies mostly on data

gathered through qualitative methods.

The advantage of adopting a good and quality descriptive study for the research in rituals

and symbolism in indigo textile dyeing technology industry is the ability to focus on the issue

without dissipating one’s intellectual energy, resources especially finance and time. Therefore,

this research is limited to the rituals and symbolism of indigo textile dyeing technology industry

in Osogbo, Nigeria in order to examine what, how and why they create a significant and

meaningful universe of the environment.

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Although, the synthetic dyeing technology which is an imported technology is endowed

with several colours, this study is limited to interpreting the symbolism of the blue-black colour

in the indigo dyeing technology and proverbs. However, the technology has been linked to the

Osun-Osogbo festival, which is a religious festival but this research is focused on how cultural

beliefs are constructed in motif forms thereby creating a consciousness among the people

concerning their identity, status and values. This extends to peoples’ attitude to the symbols as of

merely intellectual and emotional symbols communicating and shaping any action or a mere

creative expression.

The study adopts the use of metaphoric analysis of Schmidts in of the gender

relationships in the alkaline production, this also extends to the relationship between the dyers,

dyeing industries and the society and the expertise needed to manage the transformations

involved in indigo dyeing technology. These endowments of the indigo dyer and the indigo

dyeing industry and their activities have not been the subject of ethnographic inquiry as dyer,

designer, creative artists and social reality constructor which, this study is limiting its scope.

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CHAPTER TWO

Literature Review

Several scholars in the academic discipline around the have written on the subject of

symbolism and ritualism, few on the symbolism and ritualism in indigenous technology and

scanty works or non-existent works on the symbolism and ritualism of indigo textile dyeing

technology products. This chapter reviews the relevant literatures, papers, articles relating to the

core of this thesis. The review of this literature is organized under the following issues:

I. The interrelationship among the concepts of technology, symbolism and ritualism

II. The history of natural indigo plant

III. The indigo textile dyeing technology

IV. The productive forces involved in indigo textile dyeing technology

a. The productive force and the vision of the production process; Profit or Production

b. Socioeconomic and Socio-political relationship

c. Means of mobilizing production forces (the organization of production forces)

d. Gender relations

V. Market dynamics in the production of indigo textile dyed products

VI. Indigo textile dyeing technology as an art and value systems

VII. Symbolism and ritualism in indigo textile dyeing technology and its products

1.1 THE INTERRELATIONSHIP AMONG THE CONCEPTS OF TECHNOLOGY,

SYMBOLISM AND RITUALISM

The state of the art in the whole general field of practical know-how and tool used at any

particular historical period is referred to as technology. It ranges from arts, crafts, professions,

applied sciences, and skills to any systems or methods of organization which enable such

technologies, any field of study which concerns them, or any products which result. It is also a

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collection of techniques which leads to the development of the current state of humanity's

knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill

needs, or to satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and

raw materials (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2007; Wikipedia, 2010). Technology can therefore

be both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order

to achieve some value. This can be perceived as tools and machines that may be used to solve

real-world problems and when combined with another term, such as "indigo textile dyeing

technology" it refers to the state of the indigo textile dyeing technology as a field of knowledge

and the tools.

Several authors and writers have given their descriptive and definitive thoughts on

technology. Schatzberg (2006) in the 1930s referred technology not as the study of the industrial

arts, but as the industrial arts themselves. This may seem confusing but in the same era, Red

Bain; an American Sociologist in 1937 stated that technology includes all tools, machines,

utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and

the skills by which we produce and use them. Bain's definitional perspective remains common

among scholars today, especially social scientists. Ursula (1989) claimed in her lecture that she

views the concept of technology as a practice, the way we do things around here. Stiegler (1998)

described technology in two ways: the pursuit of life by means other than life, and an organized

inorganic matter. Among all these definitions of the concept of technology, not one of them suits

this thesis as the one given by Borgmann (2006) that technology is an activity that forms or

changes culture. Therefore it can be claimed that technology is the application of arts and science

for the benefit of life.

Technologies, therefore significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability

to control and adapt to their natural environments. The human species' use of technology began

with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the

ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel

helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Technology has affected

society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped

develop more advanced economies. Various implementations of technology influence the values

of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. This led Fubini (2010) to

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conclude in his discourse that the human goal has been the fundamental driving force behind any

change culturally and technologically throughout human history. The innate human ability for

abstract thought has made man able to project a plan for his own future. Originally, man’s

foresight has been directly affected by his own survival instinct, making his way to the next

meal, and this is continuously intertwined with his interaction with and relationship to his own

environment. The living environments that we experience include the places where we live,

those that we visit, and anything else that constitutes what we may see or do. Therefore our

relationship to the environment which we experience is very location-dependant in terms of

resources and environmental factors.

The location-dependant factors has led to the development of many different human

cultures all over earth, and have had varying effects on the development of culture and

technology. These different cultures provided different goals for each society that motivated

technological innovations at different time and for different reasons and the advent of technology

has greatly affected our living environment (Fubini, 2010). While there are many examples

where cultural needs drive technological change, and inspire innovation. In many cases the most

fundamental need of any human culture is the need to know what happens after we die, or the

need to answer questions about things that happen outside of our control. Humans have used

religion to help allay some of their fears of the unknown, and to help to explain why things are

the way they are Ehrlich (2000). This has resulted to the creation of culture to explain why things

and situations are the way they are in a particular environment.

Culture according to Onyewuejeogwu (1992) is a man-made product and from the

foregoing discussion, the need of any human culture is to observe the environment and know

what happens in the environment or the things outside of human beings’ control. All these

cultures are all a product of symbolism and maintained by ritualism. Symbolism has made the

production of culture possible by enabling the human society unique and different from the

animals’ species. And from the argument of White (1962), man is the only living species that has

culture and culture depends on symboling because man only has the ability to originate and

bestow meanings upon things and to comprehend such meanings bestowed by others.

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White (1962) has defined a symbol as a thing or event, an act or an object, upon which

meaning has been bestowed by human beings. And a thing is a symbol when it is significant in

the context of symboling which involves originating and bestowing non-sensory meanings, and

in comprehending such meaning. And he also stated that the meaning of symbols can be

comprehended but not perceived. This kind of behavior has been attributed to human beings who

have been linked with the application of arts and science for the benefit of his life which is the

main goal of every human being. Firth (1973) also voiced his opinion which underpinned

White’s argument that man does not live by symbols alone, but man orders and interprets his

reality by his symbols, and even reconstructs it. These arguments have further proved that man

innovates and creates technology in order to survive; he also develops culture which includes

arts, crafts and technologies in the most acceptable definition and complete definition of culture

by Edward Tylor in 1871. Tylor in his book “Primitive Culture” (1871) defined culture to

include socially acquired knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, customs, and habits. And since

culture is symbolic by nature and culture cannot exist without symbolism, it is not striking to

note that technology and culture share some distinguishing characteristics according to Microsoft

Encarta (2008):

1. They are based on symbols. They are abstract and tangible ways of referring to and

understanding ideas, objects, feelings, or behaviors. And the ability to communicate

with symbols using language and materials.

2. They are shared. People in the same society share common behaviors and ways of

thinking through culture and technology.

3. They are learned. While people biologically inherit many physical traits and

behavioral instincts, culture and technology are socially inherited. A person must

learn culture and technology from other people in a society.

4. They are adaptive. People use culture and technology to flexibly and quickly adjust to

changes in the world around them.

The establishment of these conceptual interrelationships among the concepts of

technology, symbolism and ritualism is imperfect without today’s anthropologist’s simple

categorization of culture into four categories which are significant in pointing to the relevance of

symbolism and ritualism in this thesis of the technology of indigo textile dyeing. The categories

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are: material, social, ideological and the arts. Material culture includes products of human

manufacture, such as technology. Social culture pertains to people’s forms of social organization

—how people interact and organize themselves in groups. Ideological culture relates to what

people think, value, believe, and hold as ideals. The arts include such activities and areas of

interest as music, sculpture, painting, pottery, theater, cooking, writing, and fashion. This thesis

will study the symbolism and ritualism in the indigo textile dyeing technology, which includes

the culture of the indigo textile dyeing technology in the study area. This will extend to the

social, economic and political organization surrounding the technology of indigo textile dyeing,

the ideological issues in the arts and other aspects of arts such as the process of producing the

products.

A symbol represents something but there may be several levels of meanings involved

Firth (1973). This thesis is also concerned about the levels of meanings that are involved in the

technology of indigo dyeing and its products. It could be in terms of behavior, if not devoid of

meaning according to Firth. The study of symbolism and ritual of technology in this thesis is

informed by the ability of an anthropologists to link the occurrence and interpretations of

symbolism to social structures and social events in specific conditions in a comparative,

observational, functionalist and a relatively neutralist perspective. Victor Turner was quoted by

Firth (1973) that the anthropological approach to the study of symbolism and ritualism is a

demonstration of the use of rite and symbol as a key to the understanding of social structure and

social process. Therefore, an anthropologist is concerned primarily with the public use of the

symbols, and his aim is to separate symbol from referent so that he may describe the relation

between them.

One of the objectives of an Anthropologist is also to grapple with the basic human

problem which is usually a gap between the overt superficial statement and behavior and its

underlying meaning. Therefore, the basic aim of the anthropological connection between

symbolism, ritualism and technology in this thesis is to provide a systematic description and

analysis of symbolic act in its verbal and non-verbal aspects; to distinguish those parts of the

technological action of producing indigo-dyed products held to be significant from those which

are incidental; to mark the routine, ritual or standard elements as against those which are

personal and idiosyncratic, to get elucidation from actor/dyers, participants and non-participants

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of the meanings they attach to the act and to set the technology and its products in a conceptual

and institutional framework, in the more specific framework of the statuses and group

relationships of the people concerned.

But questions may arise concerning the identification of a technology or its process as

symbolic. And according to Firth (1973) whom the researcher also agrees with that whatever we

observe consequences possessing it is symbolic. Therefore, anything that has consequences can

be studied in a symbolic manner, because it has earlier been stated that culture is a creature of

symbols and without symbols culture cannot be created. And since it has been agreed and

concluded that anything that has consequences can be studied symbolically and ritually;

technological products being part of culture can be studied symbolically and ritually.

1.2 OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF NATURAL INDIGO PLANT AND INDIGO

TEXTILE DYEING TECHNOLOGY

Historically, indigo is extracted from plants, and this process was important economically

because blue dyes were once rare. Nearly all indigo produced today worth several thousand tons

each year is synthetic. Indigo is among the oldest dyes to be used for textile dyeing and printing.

Many Asian countries, such as India, China, Japan and South East Asian nations have used

indigo as a dye (particularly silk dye) for centuries. The dye was also known to ancient

civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Britain, Mesoamerica, Peru, Iran, and

Africa (Wikipedia, 2010 and Owoeye, 2010).

According to Kriger & Connah (2006) and Wikipedia (2010) argued contrary to Owoeye

(2010) that indigo was used in India, which was also the earliest major center for its production

and processing. The Indigofera tinctoria variety of Indigo was domesticated in India. Indigo,

used as a dye, made its way to the Greeks and the Romans, where it was valued as a luxury

product. India is believed to be the oldest center of indigo dyeing in the Old World. It was a

primary supplier of indigo to Europe as early as the Greco-Roman era. The Romans used indigo

as a pigment for painting and for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. It was a luxury item imported

to the Mediterranean from India by Arab merchants. In Mesopotamia, a Neo-Babylonian

cuneiform tablet of the 7th century BC gives a recipe for the dyeing of wool, where lapis-colored

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wool (uquatu) is produced by repeated immersion and airing of the cloth. The association of

India with indigo is reflected in the Greek word for the dye, indikón (ινδικόν, Indian), which

means a product of India. This is somehow a misnomer. But the Romans latinized the term to

indicum, which passed into Italian dialect and eventually into English as the word indigo.

Rembert (1979) stated that in Japan, indigo became especially important in the Edo period when

it was forbidden to use silk, so the Japanese began to import and plant cotton. It was difficult to

dye the cotton fiber except with indigo. Even today indigo is very much appreciated as a color

for the summer Kimono Yukata, as this traditional clothing recalls Nature and the blue sea. In

colonial North America there were three commercially important species: the native Indigofera

caroliniana, and the introduced Indigofera tinctoria and Indigofera suffruticosa. The demand for

indigo dramatically increased during the industrial revolution, in part due to the popularity of

Levi Strauss's blue denim jeans. The natural extraction process was expensive and could not

produce the mass quantities required for the burgeoning garment industry. And due to its high

value as a trading commodity, indigo plant was often referred to as Blue Gold

Kriger & Connah (2006) later in their article agreed with Owoeye (2010) that in West

Africa, indigo was the foundation of centuries-old textile traditions. From the Tuareg nomads of

the Sahara to Cameroon, clothes dyed with indigo signified wealth. Women dyed the cloth in

most areas, especially among the Yoruba of Nigeria and the Mande of Mali particularly well

known for their expertise. Among the Hausas, male dyers are prominently working at communal

dye pits was the basis of the wealth of the ancient city of Kano, and they can still be seen plying

their trade today at the same pits.

In the past as stated by Owoeye (2010), the only way that colours were applied to the

cotton fabrics was either by smearing the cloth with a red substance obtained from camwood

(baphia nitida) or by dyeing the fabrics in vegetable indigo dye obtained from the various

species of lonchocarpus and indigofera known in Yoruba as “ Elu”. Indigo, or indigotin, is a

dyestuff originally extracted from the varieties of the indigo and woad plants. Indigo was known

throughout the ancient world for its ability to color fabrics a deep blue. The dye can be extracted

from several plants, but historically the indigo plant was the most commonly used because it is

was more widely available. It belongs to the legume family and over three hundred species have

been identified. In ancient times, indigo was a precious commodity because indigo plant leaves

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contain only about small amount of the dye. Therefore, a large number of plants are required to

produce a significant quantity of dye. Indigo plantations were founded in many parts of the world

to ensure a controlled supply (Wikipedia, 2010 and Owoeye, 2010). They also confirms Jean

(2005) argument that true indigo comes from plants belonging to the legume genus indigofera, a

subtropical shrub that grows to around 4-6 feet tall, creeps, twists, turns, and seeks support of a

stronger tree and whose leaves contain the chemical components necessary to produce a fade-

resistant blue dye. The species indigofera tinctoria, native to Asia, has always been the most

valuable indigo species traded. Indigofera arrecta is the most common variety in Africa, but

indigofera tinctoria may be found in Senegal and indigofera hirsuta in Madagascar. Indigofera

hirsuta, now considered a nuisance plant or weed, is native to northern Australia and Africa.

Central and South America also have native indigo species, indigofera suffructicosa and

indigofera arrecta.

The versatility of indigo plant and dye in the technology of indigo textile dyeing was

confirmed by Owoeye (2010) when he stated that indigo plant and dye are the major raw

materials used in the art, the wild nature of the indigo plant and the current act of cultivating

indigo plants today. Though, Owoeye (2010) did not discussed the other sources of dyes except

the synthetic dyes with different shades of colour but Eicher (1975) other sources of dyes. This

thesis is focused on the symbolism and ritualism of indigo textile dyeing technology which

extends to the cultivation of the indigo plants in the study areas.

1.3 THE INDIGO TEXTILE DYEING TECHNOLOGY

The development of dyeing with plant colours evolved hand-in-hand with the arts of

ceramics and metallurgy from the most ancient times and many discoveries have been made

concerning the dyeing craft. The dyes were obtained from animal, vegetable or mineral

resources, with no or very little processing. The greatest source of dyes has been from the plant

kingdom, notably roots, berries, bark, leaves and wood, but only a few have been used on a

commercial scale (Wikipedia, 2005; Owoeye, 2010; and Leuchtendgruen, 2005).

A brief review of the historical context of dyeing was identified in Oguntona’s text

“Basic Textiles: Designs Concepts and Methods” (1986). He recognized that the art of dyeing

was extensively practiced in many parts of the world with a variety of natural colouring matters.

16

The art of dyeing is an ancient craft as old as the history of man itself. Evidences abound

concerning man’s usage of pigments of dye to stain his body, to colour the skins and other

objects around him. With time, however, new substances for colouring were discovered, so the

practice of dyeing, staining and printing increased. As a result of modern technology, variety of

colours came into the market and thereby almost every object whether of personal adornment,

decoration or utility is coloured. Makinde (2002) on the other hand showed the dynamism and

the position of adire to be versatile among Africans including the Southwestern part of the

Yorubaland. Other areas the art of dyeing is commonly found in Africa are the Bambara of Mali,

Bakuba of Zaire, Baule of Cote-de-voire, Senegalese, Gambians, the Berber of Morocco, and

among the Fulani of Northern Nigeria. But it was observed by Ogunduyile (2001) quoting

DeNegri (1966) that the art of dyeing may have been brought by ancient immigrants from

decaying empires of the desert such as Mali where large-scale cotton industry existed in the 14 th

century A.D which cannot be verified.

It has been stated earlier that there was a foundation of centuries-old indigo textile dyeing

technology tradition which disputes some authors’ argument as that indigo textile dyeing

technology was imported. And Picton (2005) noted that the adire techniques date back to only

about a hundred years ago. It was developed when factory-produced cotton for shirts became

widely available and affordable. The finer, more even structure of cloth allowed women to

experiment with stitching and tying before dyeing the textile. In Abeokuta and Ibadan, adire

artists developed the use of starch for strengthening the cloth material. Although, several cities

are involved in the technology as noted by Owoeye (2010) but contrary to this observation it has

been stated by Picton (2005) that Abeokuta and Ibadan are two cities that became the centers of

adire production, with Ibadan especially noted for free-hand starching. Oguntona (1986) stated

that eventhough by the 1960s, adire production was common all over Nigeria; the production has

slowly used family dye pots and lay out the finished fabrics on wooden frames installed in the

courtyards. It is a sort of co-operative venture in which every female member of the family

participates. The Yoruba method of dyeing differs in several ways from that of the Tivs and

Hausa of the northern Nigeria. Oguntona (1986) and Owoeye (2010) with a graphic description

also reported that dyeing industry is widespread in Sokoto, Kano, Zaria, Maiduguri and Benue

provinces. Dyeing is done mostly by men in the Northern Nigeria because their religion forbids

the public appearance of young married women mostly involved in the technology. Dyeing with

17

indigo has become a legacy of Nigerian craftsmen although; other natural and synthetic dyestuffs

are adapted into the technology. Indigo cloths with intricate patterns stand out vividly as a

Nigerian contribution to textile arts and will be given most attention in this thesis. However,

because of their decline of imported cloth and increasing poverty, adire is now produced by both

men and women since the traditional division of labour no longer exists.

The technology of indigo textile dyeing has been a traditional method for a very long

time and it highly labour intensive. Other authors such as Eicher (1975) discussed indigo textile

dyeing technology but not as Owoeye (2010) discussed extensively and researched on the

technology. Owoeye (2010) in his findings discovered that some dyers still adhered to the raw

materials used in the past for the indigo textile dyeing while some other dyers changed their raw

materials due to the adoption of imported raw materials to speed up the process of indigo dyeing.

He identified and had a comparative analysis of the raw materials and other aspects of the

technology among some Yoruba towns. He revealed that the raw material such as the indigo

tender plants’ leaves; the major raw materials used in the art of indigo textile dyeing according to

Owoeye (2010) respondents. Although, other towns such as Itoku in Abekouta have synthetic

dyes prominently adopted for textile dyeing. The process of extracting the indigo blue-black

colouration was also documented. This is pounded with pestle and mortar and later moulded into

balls and dried in the sun or smoked in the fire. The price of dried indigo balls varies seasonally

as it is more expensive in the raining season than in the dry season because of the availability of

plenty of sunshine. Then the production of alkaline water was also revealed in order to produce

the indigo dye solution.

Owoeye (2010) and Eicher (1975) discussed thoroughly the tying and dyeing patterns but

Owoeye (2010) further examined the comparative analysis of the technology of indigo textile

dyeing outlining the materials used in different towns among the Yoruba textile indigo dyers.

Even though the indigo dyeing technology is prominent among the dyers, there was also the

emergence of contemporary indigo textile. The historical background leading to the emergence

of the contemporary indigo textile dyeing in Nigeria was investigated by Eicher (1975) and

Oguntona (1986). It was stated that the contemporary indigo textile dyeing came into existence

during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1969) when the Federal Government banned the

importation of printed textiles. This ban left the public with no option than to direct its energy to

18

the development of the popular “adire” fabrics in order to supplement the locally textile

producing industries. According to Oguntona stated that the name “Kampala” fabrics was

another name given to batik-wax resist technique type of dyeing, which the great demand

coincided with the Peace Talk that was being held in Kampala, Uganda by the two conflicting

sides in the Nigerian Civil War, hence the locally-made fabrics were christened “Kampala”. This

led to the influx of petty traders, labourers, farmers, clerks, and the jobless to become kampala

dyers and merchants and lot of employment avenues were created through the batik-wax resist

making.

This could also be one of the reasons the originally family and women dominated

technology has been flooded with men and women since the traditional division of labour is not

in existence anymore (Owoeye, 2010). Oguntona (1986) also made known the application of

motifs along with the materials needed to achieve it, though this was not different from

Owoeye’s (2010) account but Owoeye never studied kampala, which Oguntona stated that it is a

multi-coloured fabric that uses wax repeatedly to preserve each motif area. The current discourse

of this thesis even though concerned with the technology of indigo textile dyeing discovered that

other authors have discussed the technology without their research beam light focusing on

symbolism and ritualism in the production of indigo-dyed textile.

1.4 THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES INVOLVED IN INDIGO TEXTILE DYEING

TECHNOLOGY

1.4.1 The productive force and the vision of the production process; Profit or Production

Commercial textile and clothing production has a long history in some parts of Africa but

the precise origins of cloth production in Africa is lost in time, but archaeological findings

indicate some of the earliest sites. In Tunisia, weavers and dyers as early as the tenth century

C.E. organized guilds in order to protect their business. By the fifteenth century, the dyeing pits

of Kano in northern Nigeria were renowned as far north as the Mediterranean coast. They are

still in operation today. In Kano as in many other precolonial centers of commercial textile

production, the city's political elite were among the weavers' and dyers' most important clientele.

Royal patronage fostered the development of special luxury cloths. The court of King Njoya of

Baumun in present-day Cameroon, for example, produced especially fine examples of raffia-

19

stitched tie and dye. The Asante court in Kumasi (in present-day Ghana) supervised the

production of silk kente cloth Khaminwa (2010).

For centuries, textiles and garments have been produced domestically for households and

village community members and commercially, for bartering or sale. This confirms Roberts

(1984) argument concerning the Maraka indigo dyeing textile industry. Although the earliest

cloth was made primarily of local natural fibers, today's African textiles and clothing incorporate

a wide variety of materials and styles. Khaminwa (2010) and Owoeye (2010) stated that

traditions of cloth production and design bark cloth, or cloth made from tree bark, predates the

development of woven textiles in most parts of Africa. Although Africa's weavers produce a

wide variety of patterned, colored fabric, they also weave plain cloth. Common fabric-decorating

techniques include appliqué designs, sewn on in contrasting fabrics; embroidery with brightly

colored threads; and dyeing. Two of the most popular dyeing techniques in Africa are tie and dye

and resist dye. In tie and dye, designs are first tied or stitched into the cloth, using cotton or raffia

threads. In resist dye, dyers draw on the cloth using an impermeable substance, such as candle

wax or paste made from cassava, a tuber. They then dip the fabrics into solutions typically made

from vegetable dyes, which color all but the covered areas. Indigo plants are used for deep blue

dyes, while reddish brown dyes are extracted from cola nuts, the camwood tree, and the redwood

tree. Greens, yellows, and blacks are prepared from other sources.

Indigo cloth-dyeing has greatly changed from that time until today. The early cloth-dyers

found all their raw materials in the surrounding area. The first cloth-dyers of the city of Labé,

from 1940 onward, also used exclusively local inputs. It was by imitating these first cloth-dyers

that many women from Labé and from the neighboring town of Pita took up cloth-dyeing as a

principal moneymaking activity. There followed a period of competitions organized for weavers

and cloth-dyers in the Centers for the Promotion of Women. This was during the time of

Guinea's First Republic. During this time traveling merchants would also export cloth to markets

like Lomé, in Togo.

Today we find that cloth-dyeing is the most important way that Labé women earn money.

Up to 5,000 women are involved in some part of the process. In one of Labé's neighborhoods,

nearly everyone is involved in cloth-dyeing, even the men and the children. In the past 5 to 10

20

years, the cloth-dyeing sector has begun to operate on a new and larger scale. Along with these

changes, most dyers have switched to supplementing the local inputs with manufactured inputs,

including industrial indigo, caustic soda, and sodium hydrosulfite. These inputs were imported

through Liberia before the Liberian civil war, but now are imported principally from Banjul in

the Gambia. The sheer volume of production made supplementing local inputs with imported

inputs necessary, if only to keep from destroying the supply of local inputs. However, most cloth

dyers agree that the best results are obtained by maintaining their dye barrels with a base of the

local ingredients and adding imported ingredients as necessary. This indicated that as much as

Labe women are concerned about the profit, their aims also not to undermine the traditional

quality of their products by neglecting the local ingredients.

Owoeye (2010) discussed indirectly profit-production dichotomy in his comparison of

indigo textile dyeing technology as practiced in some selected Yoruba towns but he only stated

the common sources of economic income observed for the dyers and those involved in processes

of indigo textile dyeing: the cultivation of indigo plants, harvesting and preparation of indigo

balls, professionalism of the dyers, selling of the textile dyed products as wholesalers or retailers,

apprenticeship in terms of knowledge acquired, served as sources of bringing in foreign

exchange earnings in the country. In his comparison, he also identified some towns where pots

were still being used and other economic gain is financial income to potters. Some dyers

provided additional income for themselves during traditional festivals such as the Osun-Osogbo

festival. In some other towns due to the change in some raw materials, economic gains observed

were for those involved in the sale of iron or steel drums for dyeing, sale of cement, art of

bricklaying, sales of caustic soda, chemicals used for synthetic dyestuff, plastic bowls sellers,

iron pots makers and sellers of firewood.

From the ongoing discourse, it is revealed that most of the authors did not discuss the

profit-production dichotomy but Owoeye (2009) who pointed to this subject discussed from the

managerial point of view. Owoeye (2009) discussing about the intentions and objectives of

indigo dyers in the entrepreneurial orientation of indigo textile dyeing operators stated that some

dyers sometime would start an indigo dyeing business in order to survive in life, it was stated

that they do not have or know any other business in their family except indigo dyeing and it has

been in the tradition in their family. They do not try to do things due to the monetary value

21

attached to it but usually do things because there is no other thing to do in their family tradition.

It was observed among the dyers that their attitude differs with their location or environment.

The dyers located near a metropolitan city prioritize monetary value more than those in the rural

areas. The dyers in the rural areas stated that their desire is to see the survival of the family

tradition but they are also faced with erosion of the tradition with the effects of globalization and

education growing stronger every day. These factors have led the growing generation in the

family to seek after white-collar jobs. They also sometime do things because their fore-parents

have done it, established it and succeeded in it. This has paved way for others in the business

today. But some established indigo textile dyeing centres did not go into the business to survive

in life and does not try to do things due to the monetary value attached to it while other dyers

entered the business to survive and do things due to the monetary value attached to it. This shows

in the description of their centres and how they started their textile dyeing business.

This dichotomy is unsettled and not universal typology because Owoeye (2009) stated

that some dyers rarely copy what other dyers are doing due to the fact that they want to achieve

uniqueness in the promotion of purpose, culture and production of the products while others

usually do things because others are doing it and succeeding in it.

Another aspect related to this discourse of profit or production dichotomy is the effect of

competitive aggressiveness stated in Owoeye (2009). It was observed that the current

competitiveness aggressiveness in business today has influenced some dyers’ intentions and

objectives. And it has been observed that the reviewed works in this section has not been able to

justify if the indigo textile dyeing technology is primarily for profit or just for production

purpose. The authors have discussed the intentions and objectives and other factors that could

affect the profit or production dichotomy of the dyers and disregarding the other processes and

productive forces involved in the indigo textile dyeing technology. But this research will

examine this gap among all the productive forces involved in indigo textile dyeing in Osogbo.

1.4.2 Socioeconomic and sociopolitical relationship among the productive forces

Most of the reviewed articles on no account discussed the socioeconomic and

sociopolitical relationship existing among the productive forces involved in the indigo textile

dyeing technology. Several authors have focused on the socioeconomic and sociopolitical

environmental influences on the technology of indigo textile dyeing and its operators especially

the dyers only.

22

Owoeye (2010) discussed the socio-cultural, political and religious significance of indigo

dyed products in some Yoruba towns where indigo dyeing is prominently practiced. He stated

the major difference between the products among the dyers in different locations which were

basically the decorative motifs with their symbolic meanings and names. The practice of indigo

textile dyeing technology had been pushed to the rural areas and the hinterlands of Nigeria due to

the importation and establishment of modern textile industries. And it was observed that the

dried indigo balls are mostly produced in the hinterland. But, the survival instinct of the craft

showed the peoples’ strong interest and desire in indigo textile dyeing technology which allowed

the local industry play a great role in the socio-economic life of the people.

This also led to the effects of political events on the socioeconomic aspect and lives of

the technology and the dyers in the indigo textile dyeing. Owoeye (2010) gave further evidence

which is clearly an outcome of political rancor during the 2008 gubernatorial elections in Ogun

State at the dyed textile international market at Itoku, Abeokuta. This aided the economics of the

indigo dyed textile during the period because of the new motifs that were invented. Other authors

such as Eicher (1975) discussed generally on cloth production with little emphasis on indigo

textile dyeing technology and relationship among dyers which was discussed by Owoeye (2010).

And Roberts (1984) discussed the Maraka textile industry noted the socioeconomic and political

relationships between the male and female in the households where there is a dichotomy in the

production of white plain clothes by men and consumed by the household members and the

indigo dyed clothes by the women consumed by the community as luxury item. This article

focused on the power play and political economics between them. Although, the indigo textile

dyeing technology practiced by the Maraka women according to Roberts (1984) was a major

craft affecting the cloth production and the relationships within the households especially among

the genders.

According to a website named tk-designs (2010) there are issues raised that influences

the contemporary African governments and political leaders over popular clothing styles. Many

African anticolonial movements of the 1940s and 1950s made elements of traditional clothing

symbolic of their campaign toward independence. Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta wore a beaded ogut

tigo hat and a beaded leather belt, while Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah encouraged educated

nationalists to wear the fugu, a waist-length tunic worn by the common man. At independence,

many new republics designed a national dress, intended to unite the diverse peoples within their

23

borders. In the former Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mobutu Sese Seko's authenticité

campaign urged Zairieans to return to "authentic" African clothing styles. After Thomas Sankara

came to power in Burkina Faso in 1983, he declared locally woven cotton the national fabric and

required civil servants to wear it. In southern Africa, men's "Kaunda suits" are named after

Kenneth Kaunda, the former president of Zambia. In South Africa, Gatsha Buthelezi, head of the

Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party, encourages supporters to wear the skins and headdresses

of Zulu warriors at public events. South African President Nelson Mandela's taste in brightly-

colored shirts has made them newly fashionable.

But the work of Tntindigo (2010) on the Labe’s dyeing women in Guinea indicated that

the establishment of associations and other guilds and groups of cloth-dyers created a lot of

changes in their operation and during this entire period with all its changes, the cloth-dyers

always enjoyed a close relationship with the weavers of Popodara, Dionfo, Pita, and elsewhere,

with the weavers producing for the cloth-dyers according to their tastes and preferences.

Therefore, this research will focus on the relationship among the productive forces from

the socioeconomic and sociopolitical viewpoints because reviewed papers did not discuss the

other productive forces in the technology.

1.4.3 The mobilization and organization of productive forces in indigo textile dyeing

technology

Indigo textile product is a highly developed textile art found among the Yoruba of South

western, Nigeria. It has been a traditional method amongst the Yoruba for a very long time and is

highly labour intensive according to Patrick (2008).

Indigo textile dyeing technology was originally controlled by women and this has been

confirmed by several authors (Owoeye, 2009, 2010; Eicher, 1975, Patrick, 2008; Oguntona,

1986; Roberts, 1984). Johnson (1921) also confirmed the argument while discussing the trades

and professions of the Yoruba people. He outlined the principal occupations of men which

include agriculture, commerce, weaving, iron-smelting, smithing, tanning and leather workings,

carving on wood and on calabash, music, medicine, barbing and other minor employments. He

also outlined the occupations of women which indigo dyeing craft is one of their major

occupations. However, due to the decline of imported cloth, increasing poverty and

unemployment rate in the society, it is now made as widely as it used to be in the olden days.

24

The technology has also led to the production process to involve men and women since the

traditional division of labour no longer exists according to Patrick (2008).

The area of mobilizing and organizing productive forces in the technology of indigo

textile dyeing has not been discussed by authors except by Owoeye (2009 and 2010) who was

also dyer-centric, neglecting the other productive forces involved in the technology. Owoeye

(2009, 2010) stated that the dyers that possess indigo textile dyeing technology as family

tradition and craft mobilizes females and wives in the family compound to participate in the

dyeing process. The women married into such families give instruments of the dyeing

technology as they are accepted into the family. But this has accounted for some families’ degree

of revealing their trade and technology secrets. He further explained that some dyers especially

those in Kemta, Abeokuta do not like revealing their technology secrets because it is their family

trademark and copyrights. The was a difference among the Ede dyers who are willing to reveal

their trade secrets due to their open-hearted and influence of the metropolitan city.

Dyers with recognized centres and possessing educated leadership created a more

organized mobilization and organizational procedures. They adopt the use of trainees,

apprentices and short term employments. But Owoeye (2009) expanded the frontier of this

discourse by throwing light on the management of human resources among the dyers he

investigated. He observed the influence of environment, education and intentions of the dyers on

the mobilization and organizing methods.

Tntindigo (2010) discussed the mobilization and organization of the women productive

forces in indigo textile dyeing technology and it stated that the cloth-dyer and the other women

of her family are usually involved in sewing or tying the designs into the cloth. Any cloth-dyer

with a sufficient volume of orders also subcontracts out this work to other neighborhood women.

The number of people who benefit from the cloth-dyeing is much greater than the number of

cloth-dyers. It includes many women who do not have the capital to begin dyeing themselves,

the desire to devote themselves to all the tasks involved, or the willingness to live with the dyed

hands that mark the cloth-dyer. The cloth-dyer takes responsibility for preparing the dye mixture.

She also usually does the dyeing. However, quite often she does the work with other women who

have come to her to learn the process. They consider themselves her apprentices. Unless the

25

work volume is such that she cannot take care of all the work herself, the cloth-dyer and her

family do the tasks of removing the threads and pressing the cloth themselves. However, it is

nonetheless quite common for this work to be subcontracted out as well. But all these references

neglected the focus of this thesis which is the holistic study of all productive forces in the indigo

textile dyeing technology.

1.4.4 Gender relations among the productive forces in indigo textile dyeing technology

In many African societies, men and women are responsible for different stages of cloth

production. The gender division of labor, however, varies widely by region, and in many places

has changed over time.

Makinde (2002) discussed the dynamism and the position of adire which he established

to be versatile among Africans including the southwestern part of the Yorubaland. Other areas

the art of dyeing is commonly found in Africa are the Bambara of Mali, Bakuba of Zaire, Baule

of Cote-de-voire, Senegalese, Gambians, the Berber of Morocco, and among the Fulani of

Northern Nigeria. Picton (2005) stated that by the 1960s, adire production was common all over

Nigeria, since then, production has slowly used family dye pots and lay out the finished fabrics

on wooden frames installed in the courtyards. It is a sort of co-operative venture in which every

female member of the family participates. The Yoruba method of dyeing differs in several ways

from that of the Tivs and Hausa of the northern Nigeria as observed by Oguntona. Oguntona's

work reported that dyeing industry is widespread in Sokoto, Kano, Zaria, Maiduguri and Benue

provinces. Dyeing is done by men in those areas unlike in the south. The men do the dyeing

because their religion forbids the public appearance of young married women.

The technology of indigo textile dyeing has been a woman’s craft but due to the changing

socio-economic conditions such as high unemployment rate and the decreasing space in the

gender of the dyers especially in Nigeria, indigo textile dyeing technology has shifted from a

female craft to all genders’ craft (Owoeye, 2010 and Patrick, 2008).

Owoeye (2010) discovered in Ede and Abeokuta that indigo textile dyeing practitioners

were women. He stated that among the Akoda’s and Akodabi’s family, there was a custom that

every woman married into the family must be endowed with all the instruments and raw

materials of indigo textile dyeing. Although, in recent times, there were changes in the custom

because some of the newly married women did not stay in the Akoda’s and Akodabi’s family

26

compound and younger women in the family quarters were educated women with their

individual career unlike the old women and wives that were not educated. The case at the

Akodabi’s family was that most of the women at the centre were not educated except for few of

them but their children that were educated join them in the dyeing business in addition to their

schooling. This may be due to the indigo dyed textile market that booms in Abeokuta than Ede.

But in Osogbo among the dyers, the production does not have any gender basis both male and

female participate in the craft’s process as long as the person is passionate about the business.

Most of the literatures such as Owoeye (2010), Patrick (2008), Eicher (1975) and

Oguntona (1986) among others agree that the dyeing technology is mostly practiced in Yoruba

towns and villages and the large dye pots of earthenware are a characteristic feature of every

family compound indicated the craft to be controlled by women. And the women have developed

the craft to a state of excellence. This is quite different from that of the Tivs and Hausas that

restrict the women from textile dyeing due to their traditional and religious practices in northern

Nigeria. The dyeing is done by the men in large dye-pits which are cemented right from the

bottom to the top. All these were discovered to have been ingrained in their religious beliefs

which are predominantly Islamic people. The southern women has been discovered to practice

indigo dyeing using family pots and place their finished fabrics on wooden frames installed in

the courtyards. It is a sort of co-operative venture in which every female member of the family

participates.

The household social relations in the Maraka textile industry of the 19 th century was

discussed by Roberts (1984). Though, his work showed the fitful and uneven social and

economic that took place during the 9th century in the area of the Western Sudan that is now part

of Mali but he also dwelt on the social and economic history of the West African interior. The

Maraka textile industry revealed two superimposed systems of production based on gender

which came into increasingly into conflict. This article’s line of discourse was on the production

process based on gender basis which by no means was incompatible. The productive forces of

the Maraka indigo dyed textile industry were basically women in individual households

according to Roberts (1984). He continued that dyeing in Western Sudan was traditionally

women’s work. In 1796, Mungo Park remarked that women dyed cloth blue. In 1910, Fernand

Daniel was more precise when he noted that in the Middle Niger Valley, dyeing was dominated

27

by Maraka women. The origin of women’s control over the dyeing remains unclear, although the

tasks involved were similar to women’s usual domestic chores. Dyeing consisted of gathering

wood, pounding, drawing water, tending the fire, and washing clothes. While these tasks may

have resembled the labour women customarily provided the household, indigo dyeing among the

Maraka people differed because of the gender-property relationship. Dyeing does not only add

value to cloth, and not even restrict to aesthetic value but also possess market value. And it was

probably through dyeing that women came to control the indigo plant, although the plant was not

traditionally women’s property. As long as women did not produce marketable quantities of dyed

cloth and as long as market demand for the cloth remained relatively constrained, indigo as a

factor of production, had no commercial value.

But it is a different gender-relation in Baraweli, indigo was a principal commercial crop

and directly under the control of the household head. The women’s access to indigo plants

depended upon their husband’s sources. The patriarchs’ control over the household social product

was complete. Women continued to dye, but the proceeds belonged to the head of the household.

Husbands in return gave their wives jewelry, but this was now compensation for their services-

the inverse of the customary Maraka model. Expanded commodity production was a dynamic

force in the social transformation of the essentially fragile household economy, which had

evolved during the era when market forces were not well developed. And one needed to point to

out that as the Maraka textile industry demonstrated the social complexity of change the

technical character of production remained the same, and as Roberts indicated other studies like

this current one needed to consider the very different consequences of the varying development

patterns within indigenous technology such as indigo textile dyeing in Osogbo. Because in the

great Central Sudanese emporium of Kan, dyeing was rationalized and conducted on an

industrial level using dye pits and numerous male workers. But among the Maraka textile

production remained a cottage industry, despite increases in the scale of production achieved

through slave labour.

Roberts (1984) further discussed the form of production in existence among the Maraka

which designed for commerce and accumulation and only when such production for the market

altered the established organization of labour and the customary division of the social product

within the household did these changes lead to both real and perceived social tensions. It was

28

important to note that there were two types of cloth symbolic of the struggles between Maraka

men and women; the plain white and indigo dyed. The white cloth was destined for home

consumption and for trade on the edge of the desert while the dyed cloth catered to luxury

consumers. The two cloth represented divergent yet interrelated processes of production. And the

white cloth was the result of collective enterprise under the direction of the male household head;

indigo dyed cloth was women’s work.

The plain white was said to have underscored the complimentarity of the household as a

production and consumption unit because most of the cloth produced by a household was worn

by its members and the men were the producers of the plain white cloth because of their power

over the cultivation of cotton, but when the indigo dyed cloth began to have a market value, it

threatened to destroy the reciprocal economy of the household. The production process of cloth

among the maraca required the coordinated labour of the entire household, in which gender-

related tasks were complementary. The ideology of reciprocity appeared underlie the smooth

operation of the Maraka household economy, and it continues to influence the historical

consciousness of the Maraka people but this ideology thinly disguised the growing tension

between men and women over the control of the finished product of this coordinated household

labour. Indigo, traditionally a woman’s crop, was by the end of the century cultivated on large

scale by slaves belonging to the male household heads. Other factors of production of indigo

dyed cloth such as labour, thread, dyeing and weaving became commodities outside of the

household production unit. The resultant effect of this gender-related tension is that the long-

established gender-division of labour with its attendant control over the social product was

eroded through male usurpation of the factors of production.

Therefore, this study will examine the relationship among the genders in the

technological process of indigo textile dyeing technology. This study is not only limited to dyers

only but it extends to those that are engaged in the indigo cultivation and other process leading to

the final products of the technology.

1.4.5 Marketing dynamics in the production of indigo textile dyed products

Wikipedia (2010) defined market dynamics deals with price movement and motion

characteristics of traded equities. It has a range of applications, including calculating expected

price movements, identifying price support or resistance levels, or determining other motion

29

attributes of an equity or aggregate market index. It was further defined by Business Dictionary

(2010) as the interaction between forces of demand and supply and the pricing signals they

generate. In most free (open) markets any significant part of market dynamics is beyond the

control of any firm or group. But it can simply be stated as the process by which market

adjustment takes place.

The marketing dynamics in the production of indigo textile dyeing technology could be

traced to the period of interest in the African cotton resources. Eicher (1975) stated that Europe

took a sporadic interest in the African cotton resource due to the reduced cotton export from the

United States being pest-stricken, disease and war. But the stability in the United States after the

war led to the dwindled interest in African cotton. The slave trade was also stated to be a

contributory factor to the sporadic export of Nigerian cotton. Even though the issue of cotton

may seem to be a misfit in this discourse but one of the main raw materials in this technology is

the production of cotton which affects the market dynamic in the production of indigo dyed

products. This could be noticed in the discussion of Roberts (1984) concerning the effect of

production of cotton for the households and the production of indigo cloth which is a derivative

of cotton production for luxury consumers by the female members of the households among the

Maraka people in the Maraka textile industry.

The colonial period is a period of great production and marketing dynamics with the help

of British Cotton growing Association by Eicher (1975) that supported the development of

cultivation of cotton in Nigeria, that cotton industry started to flourish. But, weavers and dyers in

the villages of different ethnic groups usually establish the fact that imported cotton is used, but

Eicher could not confirm the proportion of imported domestic fibre in use. But the locally

produced handspun and hand-woven cotton has had a high prestige value and it is also general

knowledge that imported muslin was and is sought by the Yoruba for their resist dyeing.

It is also noted that these cotton and other raw materials cause the prices of the dyed

products to fluctuate. The cotton products according to Owoeye (2010) never discussed the

marketing dynamics except for the kind of cloth used in indigo textile dyeing which may be of

white cotton materials, ordinary guinea, or guinea brocade. The entire aforementioned are

exported cotton materials. He further stated that the dyers in the akoda’s family also used “Teru”

a cotton cloth with a strong he power. Some salient points were revealed which directly affects

30

market dynamics of the indigo dyed textile such as those that patronize the dyers’ product; the

politicians and their political parties. This made some dyers’ products more expensive due to

their combined nature of tourism and other indigenous technologies. He also stated concerning

the buyers in Abeokuta who are mainly wholesalers and retailers especially from the commercial

city of Lagos State.

Other factors affecting the marketing dynamics of the technology’s product are the other

productive forces which Owoeye (2010) never stated how they affect market dynamics such as

the indigo plant cultivators, the producers of the indigo balls, dyers involved in the production of

alkaline water, cotton producers, pots, steel drums, motifs appliers, bricklayers and other raw

materials producers. The value placed on the indigo textile dyeing technology and its products

also affect market dynamics because Owoeye (2010) stated that there was a high premium and

value placed on the technology. And Owoeye stated that another factor in the market dynamics

of the technology is how the dyed products are marketed. Some dyers established galleries

around Nigeria and outside Nigeria while some dyers market their products at the textile market

such as Itoku. This study will examine the effects of the relationship of the productive factors,

location of the dyers, personality of the dyers and the consumer on the market dynamics of the

indigo textile dyeing technology.

Eicher (1975) and Owoeye (2010) stated that varieties of indigo plants yield dye after

stem s and leaves are processed for fermentation to extract the dye. The fact that there are

variations in the process of extracting the dye makes market dynamics real in the technology. In

Northern Nigeria, earth which contains lime is massed, made into balls and burnt with chaffs and

grasses to produce lye (alkaline solution of wood ashes and water used in soap making). Other

places used cakes from special woods and goat dung chaff or bulrush millet are made and burnt

to an ash after being placed in a hole in the ground along with indigo stems and dye pit sediment.

The Nupe men put indigo powder made from dried and decomposed into grasses with ashes in a

sieve-like basket. Water is poured into the basket and filters through the indigo and all mixture,

dripping directly into a dye pit while the Nupe women uses a similar method of the leaves from

an indigo tree and prepare their dye in pots. The indigo cakes are placed in a pot which is

underneath another perforated pot which contains ash. Water poured into the top pot filters

through the perforated holes into the bottom pot and fermentation occurs slowly.

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The varieties of products that can be dyed with indigo is another indication that where

could be a strong market dynamics because specialization will emerge. Shea (1975) mentioned

that the indigo-dyeing industry in Kano in the 19 th century was extremely responsive to the

changing economic conditions. He never discussed the market dynamics but economic

conditions. But those economic conditions could be indirectly or directly responsible for the

market dynamics. I response to the 19th century conditions in Kano, Owoeye (2010) researched

on entrepreneurial orientation of indigo textile dyeing operators in some selected areas of Yoruba

land discovered that the entrepreneurial spirit of some locations dictates the market dynamics in

the location while others have a very low or zero dynamics others have high market dynamics

due to the socio-economic and socio-political conditions of the location. Some of these factors

are the internationally supported festivals such as Osun Osogbo Festival and of an internationally

recognized indigo textile market such as Itoku Adire Market. The social, economic and political

conditions helped the dyers in terms of the innovation, risk taking, proactiveness, autonomy

which helps independence and lack of family control, the intensions and objective of the dyers

and their competitive aggressiveness all combined to dictates the market dynamics. All these

reviewed literatures have pointed out market dynamics directly or indirectly of the indigo textile

dyeing technology from the view of the end producers but neglecting all other productive forces

in the whole technology such as the indigo cultivators to the motif designer. This study will

endeavour to investigate of other factors of production, productive factors and the consumers of

the end products of the technology affect the market dynamics for the dyed textiles.

Owoeye (2010) discussed several issues indirectly connected to the marketing dynamics

in the indigo textile dyeing technology. He observed the significance of indigo dyed products in

relation to the cultural, political, religious and social values among indigo dyers in Yoruba towns

known for dyeing of textiles. This marketing dynamics he observed was dictated by the

decorative motifs along with their symbolic meanings and names. Another assumed factor that

Owoeye (2010) noted was those that patronize the dyers’ products. It was observed that some of

the dyers have luxury buyers as their clients. These include Presidents, Ministers and Governors

among others. Some buyers go for retail buying and others for wholesales. Tk-designs (2010)

discussed that another factor closely related to those that patronize the dyed clothes but the

website focused on cloth in general. The website stated that the economic conditions and

32

changing technologies also influence African clothing styles which also influence marketing

dynamics. Currency devaluations carried out under the structural adjustment economic reform

programmes have made imported materials and clothing more expensive, but markets for used

clothing remains consistently strong.

Owoeye (2010) also mentioned that the value placed on the indigo textile products and

the marketing of the dyed products affect the marketing dynamics. He stated that there was a

high premium and value on the indigo textile dyeing technology in towns known for the

technology in Yorubaland. Some of the dyers have been in the forefront of preserving the

technology’s knowledge from being extinct. The range of prices of their products varies

periodically. The price and the market dynamics is high during the festive period like the Osun-

Osogbo Festival. And the marketing of the dyed products differ due to locations. The marketing

of the end-products are highly lucrative in some towns than the others. Some towns have an

established international market for dyed clothes such as the Itoku market in Abeokuta and

popularly called “The Home of Kampala”.

Firey (1945) stated that the systematization of ecological theory has proceeded on two

main premises regarding the character of space and the nature of locational activities. The first

premise postulates that the sole relation of space of locational activities is an impeditive and

cost-imposing one. The second premise assumes that locational activities are primarily

economizing, “fiscal” agents. And the discourse by Firey stated that from the two premises the

only possible relationship that locational activities may bear to space is an economic one. And in

such a relationship each activity will seek to so locate as to minimize the obstruction put upon its

functions by spatial distance. The acquiring of an indigo textile technology economic ecology

has had an adequate explanation in describing market dynamics. Although Firey (1945)

discussion was hinged on certain features of land use in central Boston, his discourse was a

major lead in the effect of locational activities and its effect on market dynamics.

The indigo dyeing industry in Kano in the 19th century was extremely responsive to the

changing economic conditions according to Shea (1975) and this could a factor in marketing

dynamics of the indigo dyed products. Shea (1975) stated factors such as the productive forces in

the dyeing process, the policies and dyeing tax imposed on the dyers. The new centres of

specialized dyeing and beating grew up to satisfy the post-jihad demands for the shiny beaten

33

turban called ‘Yan Kura. The marketing dynamics were influenced by the establishments of new

dyeing centres around the centres of immigration: to serve the increased trade with Borno

stimulated by the Kanuri immigration, for the new Nupe weaving centres in the Emirate, to

satisfy the Tuareg immigrants and traders who longer went toward Kano, and to take advantage

of the labour of the increased number of travelling Quranic students. And the government of the

Emirate realizing the expansion of the industry did not impose taxes on any craftsmen except the

dyers.

The Kano dyers were able to have an advantage of the large quantities of dyed cloth at

lower cost which gave the Kano dyers a great advantage over their Nupe, Kanuri, and Yoruba

competitors. This was clearly a contributing factor in the rise of the importance of the Kano dyed

cloth in the Western and Central Sudan in the last century. This led to an advantageous large-

scale production and the increased scale of production led to an attempted increase in their scale

of their production not only through changing their technology, but also by increasing the size of

the dyeing centre. All the increased scale of production of dyed cloth necessarily involved

increased capital outlays. This Shea stated led to a clever dyer who manages to increase his

capital outlay in order to purchase or build a number of pits, using the labour of his sons or hired

workers or even slaves to produce the dyed cloth. And due to the clever dyers’ control of

marketing and their near-monopoly of the woven cloth, they frequently managed to gain control

of the dyeing industry in certain centres and to re-invest in new pits, in beating huts and logs, and

in greater amount of woven cloth. Therefore, Shea (1975) concluded that in many specialized

dyeing towns the entire industry from the purchase of the woven cloth through the stages of

dyeing, beating, and marketing was in the hands of a few important firms owned by the fatoma.

This highly organized system of fatoma to make well-informed investment decisions and to

make quick decisions in response to changing market conditions.

While clothing or indigo textile dyed products represents something very intimate and

personal, it is also obviously an important consumer product. The marketing and spread of West

African textiles all over the globe is well documented by the sheer number of websites now

available advertising ‘ethnic’ art and clothing as well as an increasing number of books

highlighting the aesthetics of Africa. Domowitz (1992) stated indirectly the effect of naming of

cloths has an important economic implication on the marketing dynamics. He studied the

wearing of proverbs but because consumers of these cloths in Akan society or Anyis are mostly

34

women, they often consider the social appeal of the cloth’s name to be more important than its

pattern or colour. Corroborating what other scholars have observed (Cole and Ross, 1977), that

consumers purchased certain cloths because of their proverb names, not their design. Conversely,

consumers will not buy a cloth with an ugly or uninteresting name. When given a new label, a

cloth that was not selling well might suddenly be in great demand. Toure (1985) explained that it

is the wholesalers, usually women entrepreneurs, who name the textiles they sell.

This marketing dynamics has not observed the effect of the indigo plant cultivators, dried

indigo balls producer, motif appliers and motif naming and the worth of other productive forces

in the technology which this study will be examining.

1.4.6 Indigo textile dyeing technology as an art and value systems

Social systems exist to realize their core values, and values explain why different actors

make different choices even in similar situations. Value system according to Parsons’ as quoted

by Swidler (1986) is a cultural tradition that provides value orientations; he also defined value as

an element of a shared symbolic system which serves as a criterion or standard for selection

among alternatives of orientation which are intrinsically open in a situation. Therefore, culture

affects human action through values that direct it to some ends rather than others. But just as

cultures emerge from symbols and they possess values so also do symbols have values and these

values dictate the lives of the people in that ecological region.’ Patrick (2008) mentioned that in

the last few decades, just as there has been a dawning of new interest and legitimacy in African

arts, there has also been increasing interest and focus amongst anthropologists on the subject of

clothing and its enmeshment with the African cultures in which it was created. However, prior to

the mid 1970s, there had been little focus on clothing.

Anthropologists studied language, tools and customs but in barely any previous

anthropological texts were mention made of importance of clothing in regards to culture. And as

widely discussed symbolism was in the discourse of Firth, there was no mention of clothing of

any kind in relation to culture and value systems. Some authors such as Hendrickson (1996)

focused on body treatments discussed on body, be it clothed or unclothed, as being the meeting

place of history and modernity. He examined textiles of West Africa, the wearing of Kente or

Bogolon examples of the meeting place of the traditions of the past with current modern views

35

and fashion trends. Some clothes were said to be important in the royal courts that it was unheard

for the ‘common’ person to wear such a cloth.

Clothes though serve several functions. Cloth acts in different ways in the cultures in

which it is created. It is viewed as an art/technology, the textile traditions of most cultures,

including those of West Africa are passed down through the generations and while tradition and

culture tend to dictate the kinds of cloths that are produced, the individual artists also have their

own personal and distinctive style. And therefore this section discusses literatures concerning the

various symbols, patterns, colours and motifs are applied to the indigo textile dyed products.

This is to review the interrelationship between tradition and the skillful artists’ aesthetic

preferences. African societies have long incorporated imported materials, textiles, and styles into

their own clothing traditions. The colonial periods encouraged Africans to adopt ne ‘western’

clothing styles and this is still evident throughout Africa today. This is not to neglect the

influence of contemporary African governments and political leaders and parties over popular

styles of clothing and value systems in the societies. For instance, Thomas Sankara declared after

he came to power the locally woven cotton to be the national fabric and required government

workers to wear it. In South Africa, men’s “Kaunda suits” are named after Kenneth Kaundda, the

former president of Zambia. In South Africa, Gatsha Buthelezi, head of the Zulu-dominated

Inkatha Freedom Party, encourages supporters to wear the skins and headdresses of Zulu

warriors at public events. And Nelson Mandela’s taste in brightly coloured shirts made them

fashionable when he served as the country’s president from 1994 to 1999 (Patrick, 2008). But

nothing was mentioned about the use of indigo-dyed textile by contemporary government, except

Owoeye (2010) that discussed the cultural and political significance of the dyed products among

the dyers in some selected Yoruba towns. This also has been discovered to be locationally

dictated such that metropolitan cities have more political influence on their products than those

in the hinterland which are influenced by cultural issues.

Anthropologists have likened the strip weaving process to the beat of African music,

where the ‘syncopated’ look on the interweaving of the threads simulates the notes and harmony

of African music. The messages that cloth sends through symbolism can only be understood if

there is common knowledge about what these symbols, colours and patterns all mean. This is

essentially what constitutes ‘culture’ (Microsoft Encarta, 1998). And Patrick (2008) has also

stated the use of cloth in general and not indigo dyed clothes sending certain messages. For

36

instance, certain kinds of Kente were once only worn by Asantehene. The message this conveyed

to everyone else was that if they dared to wear these cloths, they would be challenging the

authority of the king. Textiles also frequently integrate religious meaning and are used in

religious ceremonies that pervade many African societies. For example, before making the Adire

dyed cloth, the Yoruba women of Nigeria perform a sacrifice to the patron of dyeing known as

orisha. And this study would be examining the practice if it is still inexistence or it has been

replaced by something else performing those symbolic rites. Similarly, mud cloth in Mali is used

as a spiritual protection during the vulnerable times of a woman’s life. Kente is occasionally used

at shrines as a symbol of respect and dignity for the god being revered at the particular shrine.

The use of cloth as a religious meaning was documented by titled “Yoruba Religious

Textiles” by Renne and Agbaje-Williams (2005). They discussed the primacy of cloth among the

arts from differing perspectives; this analysis covers the Yoruba textiles and clothing expressing

the philosophical, religious, and aesthetic expressions of their makers and users. And a part of

the value system of the traditional Yoruba thought system is that cloth symbolizes

‘deathlessness’ or ‘immortality’. This has not been mentioned by any work in indigo dyed textile

except which this study intends to examine. Renne and Agbaje-Williams and he contributors in

the book discussed extensively on the religious functions of clothes among the Osugbo, Ogboni,

Reformed Ogboni Fraternity, Sango and Osoosi cults, Ijebus, Christians of different

denominations among others. But the similarity of the articles discussed in the book and this

study seemed related to the indigo dyed cloths when Akinwumi focused on the men’s and

women’s religious textiles in the town of Owo. He examined the men’s ritual known as ero,

which is performed by Owo men who have acquired sufficient wealth and stature in the

community to become elders. Although, this may be related or indirectly pointing to the earlier

fact in the traditional Yoruba thoughts of cloth being deathlessness or immortality in terms of the

elders wise words. But Akinwunmi investigated in his study the ritual which is marked by the

use of indigo-blue-black cloths, specifically, girigo and igbero cloths which only those who have

performed this ritual may wear. And these cloths are woven by the initiate’s daughter, suggesting

or symbolizing interdependence between generations and genders.

Owoeye (2010) discussed further on the issue bordering on cultural significance which

could also be linked to the value system because of the elements that constitutes value system are

the art and thought of the people being studied. These thoughts are presented in the form of

37

adage, descriptive words and proverbs. Value system has been defined as a set principles and

standards. Some of the value systems were represented by motifs and as discussed by Owoeye

(2010), the motifs had figures that could be identified with the culture and value system of the

environment. Some of the motifs had two large bats hung symmetrically side b y side; in

between them hangs the smaller sized bats with a rounded body but the same attributes. The

value system derived from the motifs was interpreted by a Yoruba proverb that says “baa k’oba ti

adan, a fi oobe se bo which literally means that ‘if you can’t find the adan, you can always use

the oobe”. This figuratively means that when you do not get what you want, you make do with

what you have. These motifs revealed the symbol of opportunity inscribed on the cloth through

the indigo-dyed textile. Another motif called “Abule Agbo le”; Compound is an illustration of

the circular arrangements of houses in the traditional Yoruba settlements. This represented a

compound where males and their wives and unmarried children live. This includes the extended

family living in family compound. Domowitz (1992) investigated Anyi of Eastern Cote d’Ivoire

on wearing proverbs. She said that the art of public speaking is central to the art of public

speaking. Proverbs are drummed as well as spoken, and she focused on the integration into the

Anyi lefe the use of names for pets, jewelry, hairstyles, and cloth. It was stated that the

relationship between the visual and the verbal in on e of the cornerstones of the Anyis aesthetics.

Cloth had served as a means of communication. Domowitz stated that by wearing a

specific named cloth, a woman can insult he co-wife, complain to her husbands, or console a

bereaved neighbours. She said both men and women are familiar with the proverb names and can

decode the messages sent by particular cloths in this widespread strategy of discourse. Proverbs

names for cloth are not a recent development among the Akan. In the days before these

commercially printed textiles were widely available, all the various patterns of traditional

handwoven cloth had names derived from proverbs, individuals, or events. The names often

denote who could or could not wear a specific pattern. These handwoven patterns and their

names have been extensively documented (Rattray, 1927). This study will investigate how the

productive forces generate the names given to the dyed cloth products. It will also examine the

extent of indigo dyed cloth as an environmental determinant of value system and give a

representation of the productive forces’ background and value system and how they influence the

names given to the dyed textile products.

There are several advantages of speaking through cloth. One of the principal advantages

38

is that one’s opinion can be conveyed with satisfying impunity, just like songs, funeral laments,

folktales which are not overtly addressed to any particular person. In theory, no one may take

offense at a proverb, any more than at a folktale or song. Proverb cloth offers an accessible

public voice to those who are constrained to silence. And Domowitz added some gender related

effects of inaccessible to the public space by most women. Since the opportunity to speak out

are limited. It was mentioned that men also resort to communicating through cloth. Such as a

man who had endured many hardships looked forward to buying a cloth named “someday I’ll sit

down under a tree and say everything I have to say”. This explains the proverbs that ‘in a family

or in a marriage, you can’t say anything”. Cloth names associated with politics are necessarily

ephemeral but they serve as an important channel through which one may comment on current

events.

Communicating by means of cloth offers an additional advantage. Unlike spoken or

drummed communications, which are limited in duration, proverb cloths are like billboards

whose message is repeated and reinforced as long as the cloths are seen and decoded. Domestic

strife and co-wife rivalries are not the only topics addressed by proverb cloths. Suffering and

injustice are also common subjects. Many names seem to refer to situations where the individual

is essentially powerless to act or to speak openly. Gossip, in Africa as elsewhere, is one of the

scourges of village life, and verbally rebutting it only seems to give it added vitality. Wearing a

cloth with this or similar message, however, is a way of fighting back without making oneself

vulnerable.

Proverbial name for these commercial cloths are a dynamic and significant part of Anyi

oral tradition. The phenomenon is not limited to the Anyi, but is an important part of popular

culture throughout West Africa. The power of the word in Africa is highly esteemed: here is

enormous importance attached to “speaking well” in oral cultures. Also these cloths is

advantageous when one can neither speak nor act directly, a cloth with a proverb name can be a

public voice, a risk-free way to communicate. Anyone can insult, warn, complain, ridicule,

console, or editorialize by wearing these printed factory textiles and not indigo dyed textile

which is the focused of this study. Patrick also confirmed the use of cloth very often, kente cloth

to symbolize some kind of proverb which in turn can give some interesting cultural insights

Arewa and Dundes (1964) examined proverbs and the ethnography of speaking folklore

that proverbs may serve as impersonal vehicles for personal communication. Proverbs are also

39

most apparent in the African judicial processes in which the participants argue with proverbs

intended to serve as past precedents for present actions while in European courtrooms, lawyers

cite previous cases to support the validity of their arguments. They both admitted that proverb is

used primarily as a means of communication, and this study focuses on it as a means of

communication in indigo dyed textile technology. They studied varied proverbs and their

meaning but their focus was mainly passed across in this statement that “I know the proverbs,

but i don’t know how to apply them”. This does not actually transmit directly the essence of this

particular study but the researcher would like to examine how the motif appliers, dyers and other

productive factors or forces apply proverbs to the indigo-dyed textile which Arewa and Dundes

(1964) never studied. But as the authors have concluded, if folklore is communication, then the

ways it is used as communication must be taken into account. Therefore in this study, focus is on

the study of the proverbs and how it is used on the indigo-dyed clothes.

Rowlands (1967) discussed in his work extensively about illustrating a Yoruba proverb

especially one that points to a person’s actions, particularly if they are evil. His discourse hinged

on the review of an essay subject in a Yoruba examination paper and the answers the candidates

who chose this subject providing some interesting materials for the study of Yoruba folklore. But

as other discussed authors on proverbs, he agreed that the association of proverbs and moral tales

is, in fact, very close in the Yoruba tradition, a proverb being normally used to round off and

drive home the point made in a tale. And his work pointed to a very strong decline in the use of

proverbs in our environment today. This confirms Owoeye (2010) points on the naming of

clothes among the dyers and as Rowlands (1967) stated that it is remarkable how much of our

oral tradition is retained.

In the work of Schmidt (2009) who studied symbolism with focus on the iron smelting

technology. He stated that the many of the African iron smelting furnaces were socially

constructed as human female bodies, offer insights into the rendering of human forms into clay –

much like figurines of lesser scale. His work discussed the value system of the art and the human

female bodies such as the breasts, vaginal openings, testicle-like bellows, and penis-like pipes

which are part of a culturally constructed reproductive system using the female body and parts of

the male anatomy. It also discussed ritual embodiments using potent tropes, body gestures and

sounds transform furnaces into human bodies. His discussion though not in the light of indigo

dyed textile but his line of thought on human bodies and the value system surrounding it could

40

also be in existence in the technology of indigo-dyed textile.

Heath (1992) examines the cloth tradition in Senegal. She stated that the last decade has

seen the emergence of anthropology of cloth (March, 1983; Messick, 1987; Schneider, 1980,

1987; and Weiner and Schneider, 1989) but she quoted Gamble (1967) that for the Wolof of

Senegal and The Gambia, cloth has traditionally been symbolically significant in the ceremonies

marking passage through life-cycle. This article focuses on the language of dress among women

in the urban Senegal and on the social uses of cloth that it entails. She examined the social

construction of hegemony using Bakhtin’s notion of heteroglossia, as an organizing concept.

This was carried out as manifested in the practice known as sanse, dressing up and dressing well.

The study included the social practices of dress and the production of decoration of textiles

embodies a dialogue between dominant and subordinate or oppositional vices and between what

Bakhtin called centripetal and centrifugal impulses. She only discussed sanse, a type of cloth that

Senegal and Gambia women are involved in the production and use neglecting the core of this

study indigo-dyed textile. Although, her focus on the sanse will be used in this study to examine

the existence of any social construction of hegemony in the technology. And eventhough, the

study of the Maraka textile industry reveals some value system construction among the

household in terms of their social relations by Roberts (1984), he never focused on indigo-dyed

textile and it was examined focusing on the systems of production which came increasingly into

conflict. The thesis will examine the value system concerning the social relationship not only

among the productive forces but also between men and women involved in the technology and

how it represents the society at large.

The work of Bowie never discussed the issue of value system one can relate to the

discourse on the effect of cloth weaving on the value system and class system of the 19th century

Northern Thai Kingdom. Although, this thesis is focused on indigo-dyed textile technology,

Bowie described how the textile consumption in the 19 th century showed the cultural material of

class. It was stated that the one’s level in the social structure of the society dictates the textile

consumption of the people. The dress ordinary villagers were very simple with men wearing a

kind of loincloth (phaa toi) and women wearing a tubular long skirt (phaa sin; pha means

“cloth”). These are worn on a daily basis. But the aristocracy’s most luxurious clothes were not

likely to serve as daily casual wear. Textiles were used not only for dress but also for a variety of

household items and on various ritual occasions. Such uses of textiles also revealed considerable

41

difference according to wealth. But beyond dress, cloth and clothing played an important role in

ritual prestations. One of these rituals was the offering of articles of clothing to parents,

grandparents, and other elderly and the villager’s one felt indebted. Another very significant

village ritual in which cloth played an important role was the ordination of the Buddhist monks

especially a dyed cloth. There were other essentials of cloth such as that which is used in the

lives and rites of the elite (Renne and Agbaje–Williams, 2005). Another aspect related to this

thesis was the production of textile which indicated the fabrication of the social class. The article

was able to state that those involved in the cultivation of cotton. The villagers Bowie said that

unlike the villagers, who had to weave, trade for or buy their clothing, the ruling lords were able

to extract raw cotton, woven cloth, and dyestuffs as tribute. Bowie focused on social structure

and the effect of the textile production and consumption on the political economy among the

Thais. The article clearly described the historical context and social context of textiles production

and consumption. The article by Bowie further gave an understanding of the social process of

textile production and the concentrated meaning. And it showed an understanding of a society’s

political economy can provide an independent means to assess the opinions of outside observers

of indigenous societies.

Olaoye (1989) stated that through ages, cloth has always been used as protective material

for the body. Cloth covers up our skin from direct effect of the sun. Besides the value of cloth as

wearing apparel and soft-goods, cloth also reflects the identity and status of men and women all

over the world. Nweke (1987) stated that the way a Nigerian woman arranges her headtie or ties

her wrappers, summarily highlights the social chasm between hawker and a lawyer. While

clothes can indicate who you are, they also reveal what you think and believe in such as a

reverend father, ulama, and traditional cults. The social values of a people have always been

influenced by clothes. Events such as marriage, wake-keeping and house-warming are usually

marked with choicy clothes. Olaoye (1989) though did not focus on indigo dyed textile as this

study does; he noted that the social significance of clothes in most parts of the world cannot be

over-emphasized. Nweke (1987) also noted the different way different women depending upon

their status differentiate them in the society.

Another factor that relates to symbolism and ritualism in indigo textile dyeing technology

is colour because colours also tend to set the mood or tone in clothing. Patrick (2008) stated that

in the Akan culture, Kente is a remarkable meeting place of colour and pattern as there is a

42

significant symbolic relationship between the patterns and motifs. Some Kente cloths comprise

many colors, while in others; only two colors may be used such as the beautiful blue and white

cotton Kente. This is typically an Asante’s made cloth influenced by the blue and white weaving

of the ancient kingdoms of Western Africa where indigo was prevalent. The pattern and

technical composition resemble cloths found in the Bandiagara Cliffs in the ancient kingdom of

Ghana (Barnard and Adler, 1995). A weaver’s decision about which colors to use depends on

several factors which is often dependent on the demands of the market and also on the occasion

the cloth is being made for. Traditional factors are taken into consideration, for instance,

traditional colors for women include the lighter and softer colors like pinks, purples, yellows,

silver. Men’s clothes on the other hand have traditionally tended to contain the darker colors

such as blue, green, black, red and orange. An Ewe cloth made in Kpetoe, Ghana using bright

colors. The use of pinks and yellows suggest a more female essence.

Schneider (1987) not only reviewed the role of cloth in the consolidation of social

relations and assessed its capacity to communicate social identities and values. He illustrated the

paths taken in terms of major variables in cloth styling especially the problem of colour. He

stated that both pattern weaves and post-loom decoration usually, although not always, depend

on variations in colour to achieve their effects. Colour, in turn, depends on the availability of

dyestuffs, mordants, and skilled dyers and on the chemistry of fibres and not until the European

as invention and manufacture of the coal tar in the second half of the 19th century, dyeing was

arduous and easily monopolized. But in this thesis, colour is examined in terms of value system

and its symbolic application.

Ryan (1976) examined the notion of colour and colour symbolism in Hausa literature

which as important but neglected aspect of Hausa studies. In his discourse, Ryan would be

thought to discuss all colours both the primary and secondary colours in Hausa literature. But he

narrowed his analysis to the importance of three colours; white, black and red and the wide range

of associations attached to them. His analysis neglected the blue indigo dyed clothes which is

called Shudi in Hausa literature meaning cloth or thread dyed blue or prepared in indigo plant.

Although Ryan’s discussion never considered blue or blue-combination of indigo dyed

clothes which is the main context of this thesis but he did justice to symbolism of the white,

black and red colours in Hausa culture. He also related it to the myth, poetry and proverbs in

Hausa culture.

43

The symbolism of colours investigated by Bridgett (1883) among the Christian church

especially the catholic and Anglican as opposed Ryan (1976) who studied colour symbolism in

Hausa literature which are predominantly Moslems.

Bridgett (1883) stated that symbolism of colour is founded on the nature of the

impressions universally produced, and is, therefore, of all times and countries. The meaning

attached to colour is more or less conventional and varies. It was observed from her article that

most of the clergies and choristers wore red, black and white symbolizing during a particular

feast such as Martyrs’ day, Ascension, Virgin’s Day and other festival days. This was also

confirmed by Gage (1988) when he stated that the black-white-red triad reappears as the only set

of colours for liturgical use in specific offices in the early Christian church, where white was

adopted for feasts of virgins, black for Advent and Lent, and red for feasts of martyrs. But Gage

(1988) focused on the dimension of a particular realm of symbolism which is in the context of

language and perception. The only difference between Bridgett’s and Ryan’s analysis is that

indigo was stated along with purple and dark blue by Bridgett (1883) and neglected by Ryan

(1976). Bridgett (1883) further her argument that, though they are not prescribed, but were usual

in Lent and Advent, on ember days and vigils. With this analysis, what the colour symbolizes

among Christians was neglected.

The authors who delved into the colour blue such as Jacobs and Jacobs in their article

“The Colour Blue: Its Use as Metaphor and Symbols” (1958) quoted Morgan (1661) who stated

the various significance of blue as a colour with divine contemplations, godliness of

conversation, it is also the colour of the air, attributed to celestial persons, whose contemplations

have been about divine things. Several authors were observed by Jacobs and Jacobs but the most

observed significance of blue was its symbol of royalty, loyalty, steadfastness, constancy and a

man of fixed principle. They went further in stating that the costliness of blue may have given its

first significance but what contributed to its economic as well as symbolic worth was the fact that

the blue dye was a fixed, immutable colour not easily changed by external elements. But in the

course of the discussion, blue became associated with black. This union according to Jacobs and

Jacobs (1958) may have caused the general unpopularity of colour blue; it probably had much to

do with determining the sensations and moods of feeling associated with it. Darkness and

blackness are linked with gloom and melancholy and inevitably with moral blackness.

This study will examine not only the meaning of the colour blue or blue-black

44

combination of the indigo dyes and the symbolic meaning among the productive forces of the

technology but also in the study area as a whole. It will also investigate the use of the colour

among the productive forces in relation to the prevalent myth, culture, poetry and proverbs of the

Yoruba people in Osogbo.

2.7 SYMBOLISM AND RITUALISM IN INDIGO TEXTILE DYEING

TECHNOLOGY AND ITS PRODUCTS

The study of symbols has occupied the minds of writers belonging to different disciplines

for over centuries stated Onwuejeogwu (1997). The study of symbols may be regarded as one of

those inter-disciplinary themes, which has been spontaneously pursued by scholars from various

disciplines. Few or no writer has researched into the symbolism and ritualism in indigo textile

dyeing technology. Several authors have defined symbols which have earlier been stated in this

thesis and this work further discussed the divergent approaches in the study of symbolism in the

discipline of anthropology.

Onwuejeogwu (1997) discussed the concept of sign and symbol which was also

discussed by White (1962) in “Symboling: A kind of Behaviour” but Onwuejeogwu (1997) was

in Nri kingdom as a tool employed in organizing their theocratic state and hegemony and

constructing social reality. The article focused on the Afa as a system of symbols and not on any

technology as focused upon in this research.

The work of Beidelman (1964) attempted to have a descriptive account of the complex

system of symbols and values operative in female initiations ceremonies practiced by the Ngulu

of East Africa. The study described the Ngulu matrilineal society, the relationship between the

mother and child, father and child and his kins. The subject of sterility and impotency was

discussed to an extent and in relations praises given to women who desire many children in the

Ngulu society. But the Ngulu does not represent this desire for power or security instead it is

conceived as the women wanting to perpetuate her matri-clan, the sexual voraciousness and

promiscuity of the woman, even the women in the society share this perception. This was

concluded to be related to men’s hostility and insecurity toward women. Even though,

Beidelman (1964) account for the Ngulu society on sexual symbolism and ceremony which was

given a detailed description. It covers the women’s initiation to adulthood, menstruation. It gives

a view of the relationship that would be examined in this thesis concerning the production of

alkaline water. The ceremonies of Mkumbulu (porter’s head-pad) and Kizelu (ashes) is useful in

45

conceptualizing cognitively the sexual symbolism in the production of alkaline water in the

indigo textile technology.

Further in the discussion of water symbolism the work of Tuzin (1977) concerning the

region of Sepik of New Guinea. He stated that two types of symbolic meaning must be

conceptually distinguished concerning water images. These questions delved into ‘what does

water mean?’ and the status of ‘cultural meaning’ as it is apprehended and created as a result of

the interplay of cognitive and affective processes.

His focal point was to symbolize physical water as an accumulated substance: a life-

supporting medium. He connected the water symbolism to several areas of the Arapesh such as

the life and death and the female womb-vagina. Although, Tuzin (1977) gave a perspective of

symbolizing water cognitive, this study will also examine using cognitive and affective processes

to the reflection on the production of alkaline water symbolism.

Another work on symbolism was he Yam symbolism in the Sepik by Tuzin (1972). His

discussion was not far fetch from his works on water symbolism. He argued the questions of

what yams are, what the characteristics which make yam a singular item in the local culture. This

led to the consideration of an elaborate set of beliefs which has evolved around yam which

include a range of symbolic identifications which are manifest at different levels of individual

awareness. Tuzin postulated in is work that the yam is symbolically having many values and

meanings with regard to ‘male pride’, ‘body’ and ‘penis’. Tuzin’s work may lack the focal point

of this thesis which is the symbolism and ritualism in indigo textile dyeing technology but it will

direct the thesis to discover the symbolism in the technology using the cognitive and affective

processes.

Some authors conducted research that studied based on indigenous technology. And

among the authors is Peter Schmidts. Schmidts (1997) enunciated in-depth about the technology

of iron in Buhaya district, East Africa from the perspective of symbolism, science and

archaeology. He discovered invaluable observation elucidating behavior and beliefs being linked

together though distantly and through the lens of much culture change to a precolonial tradition.

He also viewed the political value of iron symbolism. And the works of Schmidts was one of the

works that stimulated this research on symbolism in indigo textile dyeing technology.

Schmidts (2009) pushed the frontiers of his work further in symbolism when he

researched into the largest baked clay figure in Africa which is an iron smelting furnace. He

46

conducted an anthropological representation elucidating the culturally constructed reproductive

system using the female body and parts of the male anatomy. He thickly described the ritual

expressions, shedding new light on previously dichotomous categories of male and female in

iron smelting and creates a more complete understanding of the materiality of the female body in

baked clay furnace. As much as Schmidts (2009) work was much appreciated, it neglected the

indigo textile dyeing technology which is the main focus of this thesis. This thesis will examine

the male and female sexual relationships using the production of alkaline water using the 2 pots

(perforated and unperforated pots) in indigo textile dyeing technology.

He also linked the issue of technology and environment together where he stated that

cultural change in the Buhaya region has led to the extinction or near extinction of traditional

economies. As Schmidts (1997) noted that the strongest sectors of the productive economy other

than agriculture were formerly steel production and its attendant industries such as forging and

wire drawing. It is a different case in Nigeria and Osogbo the study area, where the strongest

sector of the productive economy is the Oil and Gas and its attendant industries. While the

indigenous technologies others are led into extinction or near extinction especially the

indigenous technology and economies.

Olaoye (1989) is another writer on indigenous technology but worked on the 20 th century

weaving technology in Ilorin, Nigeria. He stated that the call for modernization of traditional

crafts as a means of developing indigenous technology has rather been persistent and he

attempted to make further contributions.

He furthered his arguments when he stated the value of traditional crafts which includes

indigo textile dyeing technology. But he veered into the concern of this study with a narrow

perspectives o general cloth making; he discussed the organization and the production

technology of the Ilorin weaving. His work never suffice for the discourse on the symbolism and

ritualism in indigo textile dyeing technology though helpful in having a clear picture of an aspect

of indigo textile dyeing technology covered in Ilorin and not in Osogbo which is the study area

of this thesis.

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CHAPTER THREE

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This study would be presenting in this chapter the theoretical and conceptual frameworks.

The data would be clarified within the theoretical framework of symbolic/interpretive

anthropology of Clifford Geertz.

3.1 THE ROOTS OF SYMBOLIC/INTERPRETIVE ANTHROPOLOGY

Colby et al (1981) stated that symbolic/interpretive anthropology has its roots in the

classic studies of the 19th and early 20th centuries which sought to understand how and what

social situations and life experiences were represented in ritual events, giving meaning to these

experiences and providing orientation and commitment to social interaction.

Symbolic Anthropology according Colby et al (1981) argued that it was foreshadowed by

Fustel de Coulanges (1956) when he showed interest in the way hearth and commensal rituals,

both familial and communal, expressed and ordered human relationships at various evolving

levels of La Cite Antique. Also related to the emergence of the theory of symbolic anthropology

is Robertson Smith (1956) who studied the way sacrifice brought into communion and thus

reinforced the social bonds of a group of worshippers and Mauss’s (1954) study of the way

social obligation was represented in The Gift, are essentially symbolic in orientation. All the

earlier discussed figures prefigure Durkheim because they dealt with the Durkheimian problem

of how people experience their collective identities and responsibilities in the presence of

representations who moral power “obliges them to submit to rules of conduct and of thought

which they have neither made nor desired and which are sometimes contrary to fundamental

inclinations and instincts”. And Durkheim continued that without symbols social sentiments

could have only a very precarious existence and social life in all its aspects and in every period

of its history is made possible only by a vast symbolism”. But one could deduce that the

symbolic approach of these figures was based on the constraints symbols had on individuals and

collective behaviour bound up in symbols. And their forms of symbolic anthropology may not be

recognized as the appropriate roots for the theory.

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Most anthropologists according to Jon and Warms (2004) stated that the theoretical

school of Symbolic Anthropology assumes that culture does not exist beyond individuals.

Rather, culture lies in individuals’ interpretations of events and things around them. With a

reference to socially established signs and symbols, people shape the patterns of their behaviors

and give meanings to their experiences. Therefore, the goal of Symbolic Anthropology is to

analyze how people give meanings to their reality and how this reality is expressed by their

cultural symbols.

They further their arguments that Symbolic Anthropology emerged in the 1960s and is

still influential and this is contrary to the earlier quoted historical version by Colby et al (1981).

Symbolic Anthropology does not follow the model of physical sciences, which focus on

empirical material phenomena. The Symbolic Anthropologists view culture as a mental

phenomenon and reject the idea that culture can be modeled like mathematics or logic. When

they study symbolic action in cultures, they use a variety of analytical tools from psychology,

history, and literature. Therefore, Jon and Warms (2004) stated that the current approach and

development of Symbolic Anthropology may have been influenced by the relativistic approach

of Cognitive Anthropology who forced anthropologists to have a rethink on their traditional

ethnographic methods.

The Symbolic Anthropology adopted in this thesis according to Hammerstedt and

Loughlin (2010) can be divided into two major approaches. One is associated with Clifford

Geertz and the University of Chicago and the other Victor W. Turner at Cornell. David

Schneider was also added as a major figure in the development of Symbolic Anthropology but

does not fall entirely within either of the above schools of thought. It is essential to note that all

the three were all at the University of Chicago briefly in the 1970s. Orthner (1983) and Handler

(1991) stated that the major difference between the two schools lies in their respective

influences. Geertz was influenced largely by Sociologist Max Weber, and concerned with the

operations of “culture” and not with the ways in which symbols operate in the social process. He

focused on much more on the ways in which symbols operate within culture; how individuals

“see, feel and think about the world”. Turner was influenced by Emile Durkheim and was

concerned with the operations of “society” and the ways in which symbols operate within it. He

49

reflected his English roots by investigating whether symbols actually functioned within social

process in the ways that other symbolic anthropologists thought they did.

3.2 RATIONALE FOR INTERPRETIVE ANTHROPOLOGY

Symbolic Anthropology can be considered as an antiphon to the structuralism favoured

by Levi Strauss among other theorists. The displeasure with structuralism was clearly stated in

Geertz (1973) that Levi Strauss focus on meaning as established by contrasts between various

aspects of culture and not on meaning as can be derived from the forms of symbols alienated the

symbolic anthropologists (largely American). It was also stated that Structuralists focused on

actions as being separate from actors while symbolic anthropologists believed in “actor-centric”

actions according to Orthner (1983). Prattis (1997) also stated that the reactions were not limited

to the above against Structuralism because it utilized symbols only with respect to their place in

the “system” and not an integral part of understanding the system.

Symbolic Anthropology is also a reaction against materialism and Marxism. Materialists

define culture strictly in terms of overt, observable behaviuor patterns, and they share the belief

that technoenvironmental factors are primary and causal according to Langness (1974) while

symbolic anthropologists view culture in terms of symbols and mental terms. According to

Sahlin (197 and Spencer (1996) the reaction against Marxism was that his theory was based on

historically specific western assumptions about material and economic needs and thus cannot be

properly applied to non-Western societies.,

The major focus of symbolic anthropology is studying the ways in which people

understand and interpret their surroundings as well as the actions and utterances of the other

members of their society. These interpretations form a shared cultural system of meaning which

involved understandings shared, to varying degrees, among members of the same society (Des

Chenes, 1996). And Spencer (1996) stated that symbolic anthropology studies symbols and the

processes such as myth and ritual by which humans assign meanings to these symbols in orders

to address fundamental questions about human social life.

According to Geertz (1973) man is in need of symbolic sources of illumination to orient

himself with respect to the system of meaning that is any particular culture. This shows the

interpretive approach to symbolic anthropology while Turner (1967) stated that symbols instigate

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social action and are determinable influences inclining persons and groups to action. This shows

the symbolic approach to symbolic anthropology. Therefore, Spencer concluded that Symbolic

Anthropology views culture as an independent system of meaning deciphered by interpreting key

symbols and rituals (1996).

3.2.1 Assumptions of Symbolic Anthropology

There are two major premises governing symbolic anthropology

a. The first is that “beliefs” however unintelligible, become comprehensive when understood as

part of a cultural system of meaning

b. The second major premise is that actions are guided by interpretation, allowing symbolism to

aid in interpreting ideal as well as material activities.

According to Des Chene (1996) traditionally, symbolic anthropology has focused on

religion, cosmology, ritual activity, and expressive customs such as mythology and the

performing arts. Symbolic Anthropologists also study other forms of social organization that at

first do not appear to be very symbolic, such as kinship and political organization. Therefore, this

gives researcher the opportunity to study the role of symbols in the everyday life of a group such

as the productive forces in the indigo textile dyeing technology in Osogbo, Nigeria.

This study is thereby adopting Clifford Geertz’s approach of Symbolic Anthropology to

guide the conduct of this research, analyze the interrelated concepts and determine what things to

measure or observe in the course of the research. The rationale behind Clifford Geertz’s

approach was based on his use of Interpretive method in is inquiries.

3.3 INTERPRETIVE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CLIFFORD GEERTZ

Cliiford Geertz studied at the Harvard University in the 1950s and strongly influenced by

the writings of philosophers such as Langer, Ryle, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Ricouer, as well

as by Weber, adopting various aspects of their thinking as key elements in his interpretive

anthropology. He stated his observation and thoughts in his compilations of essays titled “The

Interpretation of Cultures” (1973). Geertz believes that an analysis of culture should not be an

experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning. Culture is

51

expressed by the external symbols that a society uses rather than being locked inside peoples’

heads. He therefore defined culture as a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in

symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men

communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and their attitudes toward life.

Geertz sees symbols as vehicles of culture which Ortner (1983) stated that symbols should not be

studied in and of themselves, but should be studied for what they can reveal to us about culture.

To further buttress Geertz’s argument was also the summation of Colby et al (1981) that

symbols shows the realities of the internal individual and the external realities of communal

order. And Munn (1973) showed the power of symbolism when he termed it a “Switch point”

which Colby et al (1981) stated as the act between the external and the internal and the way in

which symbols as outward and visible forms implants themselves directly into individual

experience while individual experience finds itself transcended, identified with external

collective representations. This was confirmed by Firth (1973) when he stated that there are two

fairly clearly recognized domain in Interpretive Anthropology. In one, symbols are taken as

being characteristics of sets or groups of people, of institutions, or of types of situation. So, we

discuss symbolism of the Nyakusa or Ndembu; the symbolism of sacrifice. The second domain is

the broad psychological domain in which the study is made not exclusively but basically of

symbolic forms presented by individuals often not shared with other people, and corresponding

essentially to personal interests, claims, stresses. This domain Firth continued is autologic to a

considerable degree; it is concerned with the political function of symbols. He quoted Cohen

(1969) who argued that there can be no science of symbolic behaviour in any general sense.

Symbolic forms are the product of creative work and all social behaviour is couched in symbolic

terms. But since nearly all social behaviour has a power dimension, the symbolization of power

relationship is an exceedingly important feature of social life.

Geertzian tradition claimed that interpretive anthropology must be a critical anthropology

which Parker (1982) stated is a self-reflective process and acknowledge nature of its own

existence as the product of a particular culture at a specific point in time. Therefore, in studying

the symbolism and ritualism of indigo textile dyeing technology among the Osogbo people of

Nigeria.

52

Most of the analysis that the Geertzian tradition has been utilized for were not concerned

with any technology safe for the Schmidts’ (1997 and 2009) worked on symbolism in iron

technology and also when he researched into the largest baked clay figure in Africa giving the

anthropological representation elucidating the culturally constructed reproductive system using

the female body and parts of the male anatomy which is an iron smelting furnace.

53

3.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

FIG 1: Conceptual Framework showing the correlation between symbolism, ritualism and indigo

textile dyeing technology and symbolism and the use of cognition to elicit images of sexual

relationship in the society

The productive force and the vision of the production process; Profit or Production

Socioeconomic and Socio-political relationship among the productive forces

Means of mobilizing production forces

Gender relations

Market dynamics in the production of indigo textile dyed products

Indigo textile dyeing technology as an art and value systems

Indigo Textile Dyeing Technology

Symbolism and Ritualism

Interpretive Method and Cognition

Metaphoric images (tropes) of sexual relationship symbolism from the alkaline production using perforated and unperforated pots

Interpretive Method and Cognition

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3.5 CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION

The conceptual framework in Fig. 1 above shows a relationship between symbolism,

ritualism and indigo textile dyeing technology. It follows that there are symbols and rituals in

indigo textile dyeing technology using the interpretive method in symbolic anthropology. The

conceptual framework indicated the notion of Cohen (1974) when he argued that on a higher

level of abstraction the four institutional spheres: economic, political, kinship and ritual can be

classified into two categories. In is analysis, the political and economic form one category their

common denominator power relationships. This is clearly shown in the intervening variable in

the above conceptual framework. Kinship and ritual form the second category, their common

denominator being symbolism. Cohen’s work never pictured his work being applied to any

indigenous technological knowledge but this study will adopt Geertz’s symbolic metaphoric

method where he views cultural forms as self-interpretation, as a meta-social commentary where

cognitive and interpretative examination is carried out on the production of alkaline water in the

indigo textile dyeing technology in Osogbo.

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CHAPTER FOUR

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study is a multi-sited ethnography because the data for the study will not be gathered

from a single location but under the same organization in Osogbo. A pre-field study to the study

location indicated that the organization has several branches where indigo-dyed textile in

produced and market to the consumers. These areas have different cultures and specialization

due to the political economy in existence in the location. The common denominator among these

locations is in its ownership and control by the founder of the organization.

4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The research design in any study has important consequences for convincing other

scholars of the validity of interpretations of the research data. The research design adopted for

this study is the exploratory ethnographic study design. This study design enables data to be

collected on the research field qualitatively. The exploratory nature of this research will allow

the researcher to discover the symbols and the rituals involved in the technology of indigo textile

dyeing among dyers in Osogbo using Nike Centre for Arts and Culture as a case study.

Philliber et al (1980) stated that the distinguishing characteristic of a case study is that

there is a sample size of one. It could be one person, one organization, one society to name only

a few examples. The example of Malinowski’s study of Trobriand Islanders allows Malinowski

to have an increased knowledge and understanding of the social functions served by ritual and

magic. The case study design enables the researcher gain more depth and detail than otherwise

be possible. The limitation of case study may be that of a definite limitation of generalization.

The important point to note is that in the field of anthropology and qualitative data, the aim is to

be able to explore as much as possible a case for better descriptive purpose and documentation of

record and data.

4.2 DESCRIPTION OF STUDY LOCATION

The study location for this research covers Osogbo. This is because according to

Connolly (1998) qualitative researchers and research of this nature typically do not make

external statistical generalizations because the goal of a qualitative research usually is not to

56

make inferences about the underlying population, but to attempt to obtain insights into particular

educational, social, in this case a technological and familial processes and practices that exist

within a specific location and context. And an interpretivist study as symbolism and ritualism of

indigo textile dyeing technology in Osogbo intends to study the phenomena in its natural settings

and strive to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena with respect to the meanings people

bring.

This choice is influenced by the strategic position and history of Osogbo. According to

Oyebanji (2004) Osogbo possess Osun River which has a significant relationship with the oral

history of the people of Osogbo and linked to the indigo textile dyeing technology and tradition

in the town.

Osogbo is the capital of Osun State in southwestern, Nigeria. Osun state was created and

Osogbo as its state capital on the 29th of August, 1991. It has two Local Government

Headquarters in the capital city namely Osogbo-South and Olorunda (Osogbo-North) local

government areas with a size of 10,456sq kilometers. And based on the 1991 census provisional

result, Osogbo has a population of about 280,000 people

Osogbo is mainly a Yoruba speaking community or town. It is about 88 kilometres

northwest of Ibadan by road, 100 kilometres south of Ilorin by road and 115 kilometres

northwest of Akure by road. It is situated on the latitude 90.7/N and on the longitude 40.5/E.

Osogbo is within the climatic and rainfall region that favours the cultivation and growth

of indigo trees. The mean annual temperature is highest at the end of harmattan; averaging 28 0C,

that is from the middle of January to the beginning of the rainy season in the middle of March.

And average temperatures during the rainy season are between 240C and 250C while the annual

range of temperature is about 60C

The rainfall in Osogbo is between 1000mm and 1500mm, this is the rationale behind the

highly reduced production of indigo textile dyeing during the rainy season. Osogbo has an

annual mean rainfall of about 0.6 metres (50-60 inches). Osogbo shares two major seasons as

other towns in southwestern Nigeria which are wet and dry seasons occurring between May and

September, and October and April respectively.

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Osogbo was originally tropical rain forest vegetation but the activities of annual bush

burning, farming, logging, and industrialization has led to the emergence of secondary forest.

The trees common to Osogbo are mahogany, iroko, obese, indigo plant and so on. The study will

also examine the effects of climate, rainfall and vegetation on the technology of indigo textile

dyeing and the symbolism and ritualism.

4.3 HISTORY OF THE STUDY LOCATION

Oral history declared that Osogbo popularly referred to as the “home of dyeing” was

founded around 400 years ago according to ICOMOS (2005). Osogbo was part of the wider

Yoruba community that was divided into 16 kingdoms, which legends stated were ruled by the

children of Oduduwa, who lived in Ile-Ife, Southeast of Osogbo.

The oral tradition and myth confirmed that Osogbo emerged as an establishment of two

wandering hunters who were brothers. As they got to their first site near Osun River where they

were cutting some trees, they heard a voice that cried out saying “Oso-igbo o, ikoko aro mi ni

iwo ti fo tan yi” meaning “wizard of the forest, you have broken all my dyeing pots”. Oyebanji

(2004) stated that Osogbo thereby derived its name from the cry against the breaking of indigo

pots.

The earliest settlement in Osogbo according to ICOMOS (2005) seems to have been in

Osogbo grove near River Osun and it included a palace and a marketplace. The population

expansion led to the movement of the community outside the grove and settled in the nearby

community of Osogbo city.

The people of Osogbo are traditionally farmers. They are involved in the cultivation and

planting of indigofera as a commercial plant on a small scale. They are also engaged in

traditional cloth weaving, cloth dyeing, embroidery, pottery and blacksmithing. The arrival of the

railway system in 1907 converted the town into a commercial city.

Osogbo like any other Yoruba towns have some recognized traditional festivals such as

Ifa (oracle) festival, Ogun (god of iron) festival, Egungun (masquerade) festival and so on. An

internationally recognized traditional festival which made Osogbo town or city famous was the

annual Osun Osogbo festival and the art of indigo deyd clothes. The Osun Osogbo festival

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regularly attracts thousands of tourists and citizens from within and outside of Nigeria either for

relaxation purposes or the religious rites purposes.

4.4 SELECTION OF STUDY AREA

The anthropological discourse and research is more concerned about depth than how

wide a research can cover. Therefore, Osogbo possesses several art centres where textile dyeing

and indigo textile dyeing technology is practiced some of the art centres include Artists

Kooperative Training Centre, Iyabo Art Centre and Nike centre for Arts and Culture Gallery.

The Nike Centre for Arts and Culture Gallery was selected for this study because of the centre’s

focal point and emphasis on indigo textile dyeing technology and the possession of two acres of

land utilized for the cultivation indigo plant along Iwo-Ibadan road.

The Nike Centre for Arts and Culture is noted for the private workshop on indigo textile

dyeing. The centre was established in 1983 by Chief (Mrs) Oyenike Omoyinka Davies-

Okundaye. The centre is located on old Ede road, Osogbo and the centre is also famous for

training in various crafts.

Apart from the Osogbo gallery, the centre has displaying galleries in Victoria Island,

Lagos where a new and the second gallery was opened earlier in 2010, other branches of the

centre that combines gallery and workshop together are located in Piwoyi Village in Abuja and

New York in U.S.A. The centre actually started in Ogidi-Ijumu in Kogi state where Mrs Davies-

Okundaye hails from and learned the technology of indigo textile dyeing from her great-

grandmother who nurtured her after he mother and grandmother’s death. And in Ogidi-Ijumu,

the centre is close to the nature and the villagers where there is indigo dyers’ association whose

head is Mrs Davies-Okundaye’s Great-grandmother.

Nike Centre for Arts and Culture Gallery is a centre that provides training for hundreds of

aspiring young artists and craftsmen. It is involved in teaching indigo dyeing, wood sculpture,

relief carving, painting, beadworks, mosaic and batik. The centre has permanent staff members

who are involved in both local and international exhibitions, teaching and presentations. The

centre is also involved in cultural tourism

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4.5 SAMPLING SCHEMES, DESIGN AND TECHNIQUES

Sampling is an essential step in the qualitative research process and this involves the

choosing of sampling scheme and sampling design. Sampling scheme and sampling design are

two concepts under the concept of sampling with different meaning and functions.

Sampling scheme is an important consideration that all qualitative researchers should

make as stated by Onwuegbuzie and Leech (2007). The qualitative researchers have many

sampling schemes as argued by Onwuegbuzie and Leech (2007) and backed by the works of

Patton (1990) and Miles and Huberman (1994) that identified 24 sampling schemes available to

qualitative researchers. In view of all this schemes, they have been classified as representing

either random sampling schemes or non-random sampling. This study is therefore adopting the

non-random sampling scheme otherwise referred to purposive sampling scheme as that deals

with non-probabilistic sampling. This sampling scheme has been chosen because the goal of this

research is not to generalize to a population but to obtain insights into the technology of indigo

textile dyeing. Therefore, the non-probabilistic sampling scheme adopted in this research is

called internal statistical generalization which involves making generalizations or inferences on

data extracted from one or more representative or elite participants to the sample from which the

participant(2) was drawn (Curtis et al p. 1002 as quoted by Onwuegbuzie and Leech (2007).

4.5.1 Sampling design and technique

The sampling design chosen for this study is within-case analyses. This design has stated

by Miles and Huberman (1994) involve analyzing, interpreting, and legitimizing data that help to

explain “phenomena in a bounded context that make up a single ‘case’- whether that case is an

individual in a setting, a small group, or a larger unit such as a department, organization, or

community”. This design and the researcher share the same goal of not to compare cases but to

explore and describe the symbols and rituals in indigo textile dyeing technology in Osogbo.

The sampling technique the researcher is adopting for this study is purposive sampling

technique which involves selecting certain units or cases based on specific purpose rather than

randomly (Teddlie and Yu, 2007). The researcher has chosen the Nike Centre for Arts and

Culture purposively for this study because of the widespread knowledge and activities of indigo

textile dyeing technology the centre is involved. The rationale for this sampling technique is to

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generate a sample that will address the research questions of this study which focuses on

symbolism and ritualism and to achieve representativeness of the broader group of cases closely

as possible. The centre has also been chosen because the researcher can learn the most and

discover the answers to the research questions from the centre. And this will throw light on the

depth of information generated by the centre which will be a narrative data.

The Nike Centre for Arts and Culture was selected through snowballing sampling

technique which involves locating one or more key individuals and asked them to name others

who could be likely candidates for the study. Bernard (2000) stated that the snowballing

sampling techniques is used in studies of social networks, where the objective was to find out

who people know in certain craft such as indigo textile dyeing technology and how they know

each other. The technique is also applied in studies of difficult-to-find populations.

The key informant for the study will be the Proprietor of Nike Centre for Arts and

Culture. Other informants will be recruited from the organization’s main gallery and branches in

Nigeria, and those involved with the technology that the centre does transact with on a daily

basis.

4.6 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES

The nature of this research which is based on anthropological study requires the

researcher to conduct a fieldwork on the technology of indigo textile dyeing. There were various

methods to be adopted for the success of this research in the course of the fieldworks. The study

will involve staying with the productive forces involved in the technology of indigo textile

dyeing at the centre and at the natural setting of other productive forces outside of the centre’s

gallery or workshop.

The data collection period will involve gathering data on the myth behind the indigo

dyeing technology and the Osogbo city, the productive forces involved in the technology, the

marketing dynamics in the technology, the technology as an art and value systems and the use of

trope in the technology and its products.

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4.6.1 Key Informant Interviewing: This data collection technique helps researcher to recover

vital information concerning any aspect of culture the informant was knowledgeable about the

area of study through an in-depth interview.

Key informants are knowledgeable about the technology of indigo textile dyeing, the

dyers being studied and history of the craft. And without the key informants, contacts and access

to the raw materials and the process of dyeing and other knowledgeable informants in the

technology will be impossible and frustrating.

The key informants in Osogbo; Nike Centre for Arts and Culture was discovered through

lecturers in the department of Fine Arts and I had conducted a research at the centre prior to this

research. The edge of this centre above others is the centre’s involvement with cultural festivals

in Osogbo such as Osun-Osogbo festival and the centre’s connection to the international

community via tourism and the conduct of seminars and workshop on indigenous technologies.

Other key informants will be the other productive forces outside the production process

of the centre such as the indigo ball producers, the indigo plant’s cultivators and so on.

4.6.2 Participant Observation: The art of simply observing phenomenon, most

anthropologists believed cannot make a researcher to fully understand another culture. The term

participant observation therefore entails that the researcher participate in such other culture as

well. The researcher observes and records as much behavior that seems relevant in the

technology of indigo textile dyeing of the people and participates in as many activities as

opportunity affords.

The support of the key informants and the in-depth interview will be valuable in

explaining the details in the process of the technology. This will enable the researcher to discover

the symbolism and ritualism in the technology of indigo textile dyeing in Osogbo.

4.6.3 Structured Interview Schedule: The Structured Interview Schedule involves exposing

every respondents or key informants in the study to the same preset questions in order to get the

informants’ or respondents’ responses so that the validity of their responses can be verified. The

questions will be set to bring out the required information and achieve the set objectives of the

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study. The technique will help in having a good knowledge of the technology of indigo textile

dyeing in the study area.

The data will be collected using Yoruba language and data will be recorded using

audiotapes while the processes in the technology will be video recorded using a camcorder.

Journals will also be used for good data management. This involves using field notes because it

will be easier to see connections in everything, addition, subtraction and rearrangement of

documents can be done. This will help in the reflectivity of the researcher while investigating the

recorded data.

4.6.4 Life Histories: This will involve the narration of experience by the dyers in addition with

the structured and unstructured interview. This will give an in-depth meaning to the symbols and

rituals performed in the production of indigo-dyed products.

4.4.8 Audiotape recorder and Photography: Although stated earlier concerning the use of

audiotape recorder and photography in the extracting details of the interview and capturing the

body language of the dyers thereby creating a foundation for the virtual data and conversation

prompter. This is a key aspect of the dyers’ process of symbolization and ritualization of the

indigo-dyed textile technology.

4.7 DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

Data analysis involves organizing what has been seen, heard, and read so that sense can

be made of what is learned (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992). Onwuegbuzie and Leech (2007) stated the

argument of Miles & Huberman (1994) that stated that since analysis takes place throughout the

entire research process, a study is shaped and reshaped as a study proceeds, and data is gradually

transformed into findings because each qualitative study is unique, the analytical approach will

be unique. The data analysis method to be adopted in this research will be the content analysis

The content analysis technique in this study will be used by the researcher to display data

to provide evidence for claims in a format readers will easily access. Patton (1990) stated that

content analysis technique is a process of identifying, coding and categorizing the primary

patterns in the data. The technique will enable the researcher to organize and analyze data into

topics and files in order to highlight the contents and observations made on the field.

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Other qualitative technique to be adopted in the data analysis is the narrative method to

be adopted in reporting the observation and the data gathered. Spradley (1980) stated that writing

forces the investigator into a new and more intensive kind of analysis. And in a qualitative

research of this nature, the researcher will make a detailed description of the case and its setting

because Wolcott (1990) stated that description is the foundation upon which qualitative data is

built. This allows the researcher to be a storyteller, inviting the reader to see through their eyes

what they have seen and observed, and then offering an interpretation.

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