Saturday, February 13, 2021

Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso[1]
ArtCloth

Marie-Therese Wisniowski


Preamble
For your convenience I have listed below other posts in this series:
Diversity of African Textiles
African Textiles: West Africa
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part I
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part II
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part III
Stripweaves (West Africa) - Part IV
Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso
Woolen Stripweaves of the Niger Bend
Nigerian Horizontal - Loom Weaving
Yoruba Lace Weave
Nigerian Women's Vertical Looms
The Supplementary Weft Cloths of Ijebu-Ode and Akwete
African Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye of the Dida, Ivory Coast
African Stitch Resist
Yoruba Stitch Resist


Djerma Weaving of Niger and Burkina-Faso[1]
The Djerma are direct descendants of the great medieval Songhai Empire. Nowadays, they inhabit the eastern part of the Niger Bend region. Djerma men are accomplished weavers of cotton covers or blankets.

Textile: From the Djerma people of Niger.
Materials and Techniques: Cotton; plain weave, strip woven, supplementary wefts.

Djerma work is characterized by weft-faced blocks in black or red arranged in a diamond pattern against a white ground. More recent work, woven in towns such as Niamey in Nigerm, is practically indistinguishable from that of neighbouring Songhay and Peul (Fulani) weavers, especially when the blankets are aimed at the tourist market.

Textile: Baayon Djerma.
Materials and Technique: Stripwoven cotton woman's warp from Burkina-Faso[1].

The blankets are strip woven out of cotton and the strips are then sewn together by men. In former times, the cotton would have been grown locally and handspun, but now the cotton thread used for weaving is millspun and dyed in a variety of colors. Yellow, red, green and black are popular colors in modern blankets.

Djerma cotton blankets hanging out to dry on a mud house in Niger.

The Djerma weave on the so-called 'Sudanic' loom which is also used by many neighboring peoples. It consists of a simple frame and round branches and is characterized by the use of a heddle pully with an unusually long pedal. Traditionally the weavers are male.

Dogon carved wooden heddle pulley (from Mali).

The introduction of factory-spun cotton yarn in a wide range of colors, and the urbanization of many of the weavers, has meant that a great variety of highly colored cotton blankets are woven for an urban clientele.

Left section of a Djerma stripwoven cotton man's cloth from Niger.

Right section of the above Djerma stripwoven cotton man's cloth from Niger.


Reference:
[1] J. Gillow, African Textiles, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London (2003).

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