“My Skill is Exhausted”: issues of authenticity and sustainability in the revival of West African strip weaving

Abstract

In Ghana there is a pattern of kente1strip weaving, originally from imported silk yarns and now from rayon, called adwiniasa, which translates as 'my skill is exhausted' to convey the high level of expertise required to make it (Lamb 1975: 141; Picton and Mack 1979: 125). Narrow strips of woven cloth are sewn together to form the overall pattern of the larger cloth, and so the skill of weaver lies not only in producing the strip weave, but also in aligning this weaving so that the end product is a pleasing and coherent piece of work. How much of this amazing technique remains in West Africa is difficult to estimate, but one thing is patently clear, as a walk through any West African street market will testify: cheap, imported textiles far outnumber the locally spun, hand-woven, hand-dyed masterpieces that used to proliferate. Although there is still a strong demand in Ghana for the type of cloth descrbed above, in other parts of West Africa, according to some, the skill of the weaver could indeed be described as 'exhausted'. This paper aims to debate how true this is and whether efforts to'revive' the strip weaving in one particular
country can be described as either authentic or sustainable.

Kente is an intricately woven, expensive cloth from Ghana that is highly prized not only in West Africa but also amongst the African-American communites in the US. Once strictly the preserve of kings and chiefs, it is worn as a ceremonial costume for weddings and other ceremonial occasions.