An Icon Of African Cultural Heritage: The Local Textiles Industry

African Arts specially the local textiles industry is an icon of African cultural heritage but not properly preserved, branded, packaged and well positioned enough to meet competition in the world market. This would have come alongside with a corresponding increasingly foreign tourist arrival rate in Ghana just to catch glimpses of our local textiles that produces the most prestigious smock and Kente clothes made from local and natural materials from the soil.

Despite, the negative perceptions been perpetuated about African art by the westerners as an outmoded and unsophisticated culture without first understanding the motif behind African arts the stance is different in today's Africa.

However, the introduction of textiles industry in Ghana has come to create an opportunity between man and his environment to interact and that has led to the development of technologies, identities and values. The textiles industry since its coming into operations has become a medium of identify and cultural diversity where cloth culture is concern.

The smock is popularly worm by the people of the north while the Kente is produced and worm by the people of southern Ghana. And these two clothes' have assumed an international dimension and a national attire made from natural products and local materials from the soil using the Moshie loom that has become the icon of Africa cultural heritage the world over.

Despite the fact that the westerners in their earlier perception misconstrued African art to be childlike, uncouth, unsophisticated and primitive and there is now a reversal of that stance. Africa has notable artistic achievements that deserve concern, admiration and even research. There are many interesting things worthy of concern and admiration so far as art forms are concerned. These westerners later on took time to understand, explore and discover the motifs behind African Art forms.

As a result of this re-education they came to realize the ideas and ideal which motivated the African to embark on the production of certain artifacts. This unveiled a lot of understanding, pride and prestige associated with the artifacts. There is no doubt that African art was purely functional and not basically for aesthetic purposes alone. The African Art forms spearheaded all forms of cultural advancement. They serve thus as the panacea for the society's ills. And a potent drug which brought about social cohesion, racial pride and human dignity. The oldest art forms in textiles started with pottery and ceramic.

The textile industry is as old as man and it is indispensable in the life of man. Since man's departure from the Garden of Eden the most celebrated art form, textiles began with the Almighty God himself. He began this art by clothing the disobedient Adam and Eve with garments he made from animal skins and hides to cover their nakedness. In Africa, clothing has been cherished and uplifted by all races particularly the Ghanaians where smock is the prominent and most prestigious cloth in the north and the kente serves a similar purpose in the south. For the smock material they can be found at Daboya a cultural village in northern region, Bawku, and Bole in the northern Ghana.

And for the Eve, kente, may be by a preferred choice and design, their clothes have dull colours generally with figurative motifs according to some researchers. They can easily be gotten from Agbozume and kpetoe all in the Volta Region. Bonwire in the Asante Region have been acclaimed the home of Kente and one can easily find Kente in Adanwomase as well. The Asante's Kente are mostly multi coloured and with patters inscribed with names according to historical events and proverbs.

The Kente has positioned its self strategically in society as a noble attire for a social class. An in-depth analysis as to why these two cloth varieties have become so important would give the right sense of understanding and willingness to preserve, protect and promote the use of these great achievements in the textile industry. As the saying goes “You are what you wear”. The textile industry is a unique cultural practice that was introduced to the south of the Sahara as a result of the Trans – Saharan trade.

The Greeks and Arabs who took part in the Trans-Saharan trade brought samples of their textiles to the Negroes in exchange for Gold, Silver and Slaves. The merchants traded in salt, strong drinks, textile products as well as sugar, spices and animal products. Possible the Negroes had other forms of textile manufactured in elementary form as compared to the more elaborate foreign goods. This brought the weaving industry in the North of Ghana the needed courage and impetus to produce Smock material which share many similar characteristics with the products the Arabs used in their ancient barter trade. Where Northern Ghana historians traced their origin back to the ancient Ghana, Mali and Songhaiempires from where they sought greener pastures down south to their present settlement. A close scrutiny of the tribes reveal a common historical lineage and background as is evidenced by the similarity of cultural practices, norms and traditions.

Several Northern languages also reveal a central origin almost lost through oral tradition. The Burkinabe's upheld this tradition for centuries, preserved and improved upon it as evidenced by the designing of the Moshe looms and other cottage looms for textile production. Many of the Northern Ghanaian tribes share certain cultural similarities with the Burkinabe's along the border.

In ancient Dagare the native manufacturers had their own looms for the production of cloth of the Moshe design. Apart from textiles the Dagaaba had thriving guilds for the production of knives, cutlasses, hoes, bows and arrows, which could be deplored to travel beyond several meters before the white man's before the arrival of the white in Ghana. Most of these guilds are almost replaced by the growing western taste for modern products because of cultural selectivity a bad taste for the African markets.

The Moshe loom then permeated the entire Northern belt including the Upper West Region through Cultural Synchronization and Cultural Selectivity. At the moment the most cherished of the smock materials are produced in both countries – Burkina Faso and Northern Ghana. As a professional marketer and a student of entrepreneurial studies, a critical look at some of these factors which have made Smock production a perpetual flame of the North can be understood through the four pieces in marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion-though they are other factors as well, these positive aspects support the viability of the industry in the North.

Firstly, the product can easily be produced in the North where Cotton being the major raw material abounds in commercial quantities. The women are noted for their cotton spinning ability and produce very good yarns to feed the growing industry. However, there are wood products which can be easily cut to assemble the local looms at very cheap costs comparatively.

The cotton grows effectively in the soils up north and gives optimum yield. The Upper West and Northern Region are the leading cotton producing areas of the entire North. Anyway, I stand to be corrected.

Secondly, the price of both raw material and labour make up the price of the finished product at an affordable price. It is reasonably low resulting in a comparative advantage over most of the imported fabrics especially as they are of very high quality. There are trees around to provide dye-stuffs to dye the raw materials so as to produce yarns. The cost is quite minimal yet the technology behind it is superb. There is virtually no need to import any heavy machinery to produce Smocks in northern Ghana since everything can be done manually for very excellent results.

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Thirdly, the smock is an embodiment of all the inherent textile traditions that single out to meet the aspirations and cultural expectations of the people so far as cloth culture is concerned. It is therefore a unique tradition upheld and uplifted by the people. It is highly esteemed, dignified and extolled set aside for festive occasions, grand durbars, church services, funerals and other serious occasions.

Smocks are outstanding both in terms of quality and quantity and can serve as a foreign exchange earner to meet the clarion call for concentration on the non-traditional export sector. Abundant smock manufacture will certainly augur well for the economy of Ghana. Apart from smocks the Dagare-Moshe material can serve in diverse dressmaking requirements.