Pan Africanism and Fabric
Pan-Africanism is the belief that people of African descent have common interests and should be unified. Historically, Pan-Africanism has often taken the shape of a political or cultural movement. There are many varieties of Pan-Africanism. In its narrowest interpretation, Pan-Africanists envision a unified African nation where all people of the African Diaspora can live. In more general terms, Pan-Africanism is the sentiment that people of African descent have a great deal in common, a fact that deserves notice and even celebration. - https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pan-africanism
If you’d asked me if I was a pan-African five years ago, I probably would have said no or asked you to explain what you meant by pan-African. For the longest time, I believed that pan-Africanism was a ploy by certain African leaders to stay in power because they had a dream to achieve. Pan-Africanism seemed like a long con people pulled on their citizens. Make no mistake, those leaders do exist and we’ve heard them at rallies in the recent past. A unified Africa does fall within the definition of pan-Africanism afterall, albeit a small part of this huge concept.
What changed my mind was embracing African fabric. If you asked me to explain what African fabric was to someone who'd never seen it, I wouldn't be able to use technical terms like a textile professional. And yet, anywhere on this continent, people would be able to pick it out if it was stacked against fabric from anywhere else in the world. Our patterns seem to defy the rules of colour combinations. Our colours schemes are unruly. We have no problem putting pink, blue and red together in a single fabric that has geometric shapes and flowers. Sometimes the fabric is orderly, other times whimsical. Sometimes big, imposing and in your face. Other times subtle and neat. But always, always, always BOLD. Even where the fabric is plain, we go all out on embroidery and beadwork to make it pop.
Our fabric is one of our common interests and unifiers. The way we wear it even more so. Not in a uniform style but in the fact that it makes grand clothes for us. Whether it’s the gomesi in central Uganda, the kitenge in West Nile, myenda in Western Uganda or the skirts of Karimojong, ntama from kente in Ghana, xibelani -the Zulu colourful skirts in South Africa, or the more modern twists on African fabric that has taken hold in African cities. Our clothes are an extension of the vastness of our hearts.
When we are not wearing it, we are making shoes, accessories, beautifying spaces with it and even making art installations. The versatility of this material is endless. We've barely scratched the surface.
This fabric, the clothes and accessories we make from it is weaving a much stronger thread across the continent than a call for a single African country ever could, particularly among young educated elite Africans. If our fabric is anything to go by, it is our differences that make us unique and interesting, bold and strong. That's the commonality we need to notice and celebrate - the character we bring into our spaces, big and small. Because it's everywhere, it's a tool we can use to build solidarity and brotherhood for our dignity and advancement.
How do you use African fabric? Share some of the most interesting ways you've used or seen African fabric used.
Until the next one,
Nze!
