UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
Intermediate Technology Publications Ltd,
103-105 Southampton Row, London WClB 4HH·,UK
© This selection: Peter Blunt and D. Michael Warren 1996
A CIP catalogue record for this book if available from the British Library
ISBN: 1 85339 321 5
Typeset by J&L Composition, Filey, N. Yorks
Printed in UK by SRP Exeter
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
Contents
Preface vii
NORMAN UPHOFF
Acknowledgement xu
Introduction xiii
PETER BLUNT AND D. MICHAEL WARREN
PART 1 AFRICA
1. The drum speaks-Are we listening? Experiences in
development with a traditional Gabra institution-The
. Yaa Galbo
B.J. LINQUIST WITH DA VID ADOLPH
2. Traditional settlement, cultural identity and rural
development in the Transkei 7
PATRICK A, McALLISTER
3. Hometown associations: Balancing local and extralocal
interests in Nigerian communities 21
MICHAEL L McNULTY AND MARK F. LAWRENCE
4. Indigenous organizations and development:
The case of Ara, Nigeria 43
D. MICHAEL WARREN, REMI ADEDOKUN AND
AKINTOLA OMOLAOYE
5. The Ogbomoso Parapo: A case-study of an indigenous
development association in Nigeria 50'
G. O. KOLA WOLE
6, Community development associations and self-reliance:
The case of Isalu Community Development Union, Iseyin,
Nigeria 56
BOLANLE W. WAHAB
.\/'7. The iinportance of indigenous organizations to the
sustainability of contemporary Yoruba strip-weaving industries
. in Iseyin, Nigeria
NORMA H. WOLFF 67 *"AND BOLANLE W. WAHAB
8. Traditional leadership and community management in Northern
J.' . Ghana' . 88
NANCY COSWAY AND STEVE A. ANANKUM
-to
9. Indigenous healer associations and a South African AIDS-
prevention project 97
EDWARD C. GREEN AND BONGIE ZOKWE
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
vi Contents
PART II INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT
10. History of an indigenous community management
organization in Nepal 109
DURGA POKHREL AND ANTHONY B. J. WILLET
11. Building on the Panchayat: Using Jal Samitis in Uttar
Pradesh 123
YOGESH KUMAR
12. Informal institutions of financial intermediation: Social
value of Vishis, chit funds and self-help groups 132
TUSHAAR SHAH AND MICHAEL JOHNSON ,
13. Taking count of the depth of the ditches: Understanding local ' .
organization forms, their problems and strategic responses 143
NIDHI SRINIVAS
PART III ASIA-PACIFIC
Australia and New Zealand
14. Aboriginal agenda or agency agenda? Community-development
planning projects in Australia 159
JACKIE WOLFE-KEDDIE
15. Yolngu rom: Indigenous knowledge in north Australia 184
IAN HUGHES
16. Community development among the New Zealand Maori:
The Tainui case 193
TOON VAN MEUL
Canada
17. Indigenous organizations for development in the Canadian north:
Native development corporations 214
LEO PAUL DANA
China
18. The role of indigenous organizations in the rural
development of China: A case-study of a non-farm productive
activity 220
LI XIAOYUN, LI OU AND ZHOU SHENGKUN
Indonesia
19. Using indigenous organizations from West Kalimantan 228
CAROL J. PIERCE COLFER, REED L. WADLEY AND
ENIS WIDJANARTI
Philippines
20. Personal networks and agricultural extension in the Philippines 239
RICARDO C. ARMONIA
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
7 The importance of indigenous organizations
to. the sustainability of contemporary
Yoruba strip-weaving industries in
Iseyin, Nigeria
NORMA H. WOLFF AND BOLANLE W WAHAB
. Introduction
'ASO-OKE', THE HAND-WOVEN strip cloth of the Yoruba', has retained its economic
and cultural importance in south-western Nigeria for well over two centuries. A
number of towns in the northern Yoruba area, such as Iseyin, Shaki, Igboho,
Igbeti, Oyo and Ilorin are indigenous centers of strip-woven cloth production and
. are still homes to large numbers of weavers. Other more southern towns such as
Ibadan and Ondo have gained recent prominence as weaving centres of strip-
woven cloth catering to the urban elite.
The resilience of Yoruba strip-weaving industries has been proven repeatedly
as forces of cultural change emerging inside and outside Yorubaland have tested
the craftspeople's ability to adapt to ever-changing shifts in taste, competition
from outside markets, dwindling local. supplies of raw materials, unstable
weather that periodically affects production, changing technologies, inflation,
intrusive government development policies and projects, and the lure of modern
sector occupations drawing away the work-force.
Indigenous organizations in Yorubaland that shape production and marketing
of crafts continue to play an iinportant role in assuring the continuing vitality of
the aso-oke industry. The importance of such organizations to the continuity of
hand-woven cloth production is particularly evident in the town of Iseyin, an
historically important Yoruba weaving centre. This chapter focuses upon the
weaving industry of Iseyin" and the key role that indigenous production and
marketing organizations have played in adapting the weaving industry to chan-
ging conditions and how such organizations have contributed to keeping the aso-
oke industry alive and flourishing. The degree to which attempts by the govern-
ment to 'modernize' the weaving industry have succeeded will also be described.
The importance of Yoruba strip-weaving
Cloth production has been important to the Yoruba for almost three centuries.
The Yoruba use both the West African narrow-strip double-heddle horizontal
loom and the vertical loom. The vertical loom is an older technology; the
horizontal loom came from the north with Islam. Historically, weaving narrow-
strip cloth became an economically important male occupation, while cloth
production on th-evertical loom remained a female vocation.
Scholars generally agree that the wide distribution of the horizontal loom in
West Africa is tied to the movement of Muslim scholars and traders in Western
* Norma H. Wolff is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Iowa
State University, Ames, Iowa, USA. Bolanle W. Wahab is a Senior Lecturer in the
Department of Town Planning in the Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria.
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
68 Indigenous Organizations and Development
and Central Sudan. The textile arts of weaving and embroidery are common
occupations for Muslim scholars even today. In Iseyin, for example, over 88 per
cent of weavers were Muslims in 1980 (Wahab 1980). Based on. the indirect
evidence of the spread of Islam, the horizontal loom and the production of
narrow-strip cloth reached the northern edges of the Oyo Yoruba Empire area
by the seventeenth century, spreading southwards from the Rausa and Nupe
(Kriger 1990: 39). By the end of the seventeenth century the high quality of
Yoruba cloth; produced on both the horizontal and vertical loom, was noted by
European traders who purchased it to sell for higher prices elsewhere (Captain
[John] Phillips 1693-4, quoted by Thornton 1990: 10). In 1823 a trader, J.
Adams, who cruised the west coast of Africa as far south as the Congo, stated:
The cloth manufactured in Rio [Oyo] is superior, both for variety of pattern,
colour, and dimensions, to any made in the neighbouring countries
(Law 1977: 204).
William R. Clarke, a Baptist missionary, who travelled through most of Yoruba-
land between 1854 and 1858, noted that the quality of both men and women's
weaving was excellent.
As good an article of cloth can be woven by the Yoruba weavers as by any
people, and for durability far excels the prints and homespuns of Manchester.
Hence the native cloths are by far the more costly
(Clarke 1972: 273).
Narrow strip-woven cloth, in particular, became important to the internal and
external trade of the Oyo Empire over the next century. Oyo Ile, the capital city
of the Oyo Empire (c.1600-c.1836), was a major production centre for the craft,
and cotton and indigo were raised in quantity in the vicinity to meet the needs of
the craft (Law 1977: 204-5). By the late eighteenth century, the products of Oyo
Yoruba weavers entered the long-distance trade networks of the Sokoto Cali-
phate to the north (Kriger 1990: 41; Perani 1992: 102).
In the early nineteenth century, the Oyo Empirebegan to disintegrate, due to
political unrest and disruption of the trade routes, and the Oyo Yoruba suffered a
'severe commercial depression' (Law 1977: 281). A series of wars followed, and
the evacuation of Oyo Ile in 1836/37 marked the end of the Empire (Law 1977:
245-99). There was a disruption of cloth production as weavers fled the doomed
city, but weavers quickly returned to their looms in their new homes. Iseyin, the
focus of this study, was a refuge for many Muslim weavers who fled Oyo Ile
during the period of final conflict (Bray 1968: 271). The town quickly became a
recognized centre for aso-oke production, and it has a worldwide reputation as a
producer of quality hand-woven cloth today.
Yoruba cloth was competitive with imported European cloth throughout the
nineteenth century despite British efforts to dominate the market. Aso-oke
continued to be an important Yoruba regional export, particularly to the north
where it was highly prized by the Nupe and Rausa (Kriger 1990). In the 1900s,
however, export of strip-woven cloth to other parts of West Africa, especially the
areas of Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana began to diminish as imported textiles
became increasingly important for clothing. Nevertheless, local demand for
strip-woven cloth remained high, so that the initial impact of colonialism on
indigenous cloth production was relatively slight. Colonial influence was most
strongly felt in the introduction of machine-spun weaving thread to the Nigerian
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 69
market. The indigenous weavers quickly perceived the advantages of using the
imported thread which was easier and faster to weave than handspun thread and
increased production. However, the adoption of machine-spun thread created
unforeseen problems for the weavers. The colonial policy of discouragin§ mod-
em spinning (and weaving) mills inside the British West African colonies made
the weavers dependent upon iinported thread. Thus the aso-oke industries faced a
crisis during the Second World War when the colonial government not only
banned cloth exports to the Gold Coast but also banned thread imports. This
led to a decline in production that continued until the 1950s when higher incomes,
a surge of nationalist sentiment, reopened markets, and the resumption of thread
importation, invigorated the industry again (O'Hear i987: 512).
Ultimately, the fate of Yoruba aso-oke industries in the twentieth century has
been closely tied to in-group patronage, that is, Yoruba demand. Aso-oke is used
for clothing and is thus greatly influenced by the vagaries of fashion. The
Westernization of Nigerian culture since the turn of the century, with the
adoption of European-style dress and the flooding of the Nigerian market with
cheap imported cloth, has been cited as a death threat to the aso-oke industry
(e.g. Robinson 1982: 45-51). This has not been the case. European-style clothing
never dominated Yoruba fashions, although tastes for imported cloth have
. periodically affected indigenous hand-woven cloth production since European
contact. From 1900, when British influence strengthened, a small but influential
group of Westernized Yoruba elites tied to a newly emerging urban society
adopted European fabrics and dress. In Lagos, where the population was more
than 80 per cent Yoruba, Western style of dress was common among those
people who had attained the highest level of European formal education,
including repatriates from Sierra Leone, missionaries, businessmen and educa-
tors (Wass 1979: 334-5). While Yorubas in the more provincial towns and cities
and the rural populations were not as apt to adopt European-style of clothing, the
availability of cheap and luxury European imported cloth in every market
influenced textile purchasing patterns. Spreading from the Yoruba educated
elite populations of Yorubaland's large cities, such as Lagos, Abeokuta and
Ibadan, fashion vogues in imported damasks, brocades, velvets and 'laces'
influenced the market for indigenous strip-woven cloth.
Politics and a rising demand for self-determination in Nigeria following the
Second World War gave aso-oke a boost as the cloth of choice. Among the
Yoruba elite who had adopted Western dress as a visible social indicator of the
educated, urbanized Christian, a return to the wearing of indigenous styles
signified identity with the independence movement and a renewed pride of
ethnic heritage (Wass 1979: 339). Indigenous dress began to be worn more
often, particularly by men, in the decade preceding independence (1950-59)
i (Wass 1979: 341). The demand for aso-oke grew and weaving industries such as
those of Iseyin and Ilorin flourished (O'Hear 1987:511). Since that time, Yoruba
1
! indigenous dress has continued to be worn along with Western and pan-African
I fashions, and aso-oke, despite fluctuations in tastes for imported cloth, has never
totally lost its appeal. It remains important as a status symbol, especially for
expressing 'Yorubaness', and is worn particularly for those important ceremo-
nies that mark life transitions such as naming ceremonies, graduation ceremo-
nies, weddings, funerals and chieftaincy installations (Wolff 1991).
This does not mean the product has not changed. Strip-woven aso-oke cloth
has remained competitive because of the weavers' willingness to adapt to
. II changing taste. Materials and patterns have changed continually. For example,
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
70 Indigenous Organizations and Development
when shiny imported rayon and damask cloth became popular, glossy synthetic
threads were incorporated into the cotton strip-woven aso-oke, usually in an
overlaid weft-float pattern (O'Hear 1990). In the 1990s, a contemporary taste for
lightweight cloth is being met by the adoption of lighter weight cotton and lure x
threads. The gleaming 'shain-shain' cloth woven with a mix of cotton and
metallic-like lure x thread is considered to be cool and light-weight, and success-
fully competes with imported options.
Having determined that a demand for narrow-strip cloth has never completely
disappeared, we now turn to how indigenous organizations have contributed to
.keeping the aso-oke weaving industry lively despite market fluctuations.
The nature of Yoruba craft organization
To understand the importance of indigenous organizations to weaving, It IS
necessary to look at the way Yoruba people organize themselves for craft
production,both within the basic kinship group and in additional groups that
transcend family and kinship ties.
Among the Yoruba, certain patrilineages specialize in the production of
specific crafts, so that the organization of the craft group is inseparable from
the lineage structure (Lloyd 1953: 31). Weaving is such a craft. Weaving skills
are taught in the context of the family compounds by related specialists who
trace common ancestry to a male founder. The linkage of occupation and kinship
lowers the opportunity costs for learning the craft, because apprenticeship takes
place in the context of family enculturation. With the looms located in the
compounds, opportunities to observe and experiment with weaving are avail-
able to children from an early age. When the child gains the skills needed, the
family usually helps with the cost of start-up (i.e. the loom and its parts).
The lineage or extended family compound residents make up a production
unit, although it is not compulsory that all take part in the lineage craft. Due to .
the simplicity of the technology involved in Yoruba crafts, little co-operative
labour is needed. Each craftsperson can carry out the full production process
with occasional help solicited from siblings or children (Lloyd, 1953: 32).
Independence in production is also encouraged by the fact that the costs of
production tend to be minimal. Tools are simple in design, made locally and
cheap to obtain. In most indigenous crafts, the capital outlay for raw materials is
also low.
In weaving, the thread is themost expensive production cost. With the
contemporary dependence on machine-spun bought thread, weavers must often
call on the help of prosperous entrepreneurial weavers, both from within and
from outside the family, to obtain the essential raw materials. Once the thread is
obtained, however, the weavers work individually at their own looms. The
economic individualism that characterizes the kin-based production of indigen-
ous Yoruba crafts, such as weaving, contrasts with the more recent guild
organizations that distinguish the modern Yoruba crafts such as tailoring, auto-
mobile repair, tinkering, gold and silver smithing, as well as many of the
contemporary co-operatives which produce crafts inspired by indigenous forms
(Lloyd 1953: 36; Koll 1969).
. Family-based weaving, either as a full- or part-time occupation, within the
family compound allows the craftsperson economic flexibility and cuts the costs
of production.· For the weaver, the costs of food and shelter that have to be
factored into the selling price of products are lower when working at home.
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 71
Family support in times of economic stress is available, and farming on lineage
land is always an option to provide subsistence needs. In addition, the com-
pound-based group has a broad labour base. For example, in the past when
handspun thread was commonly used, the cotton was spun by the family women
so that thread did not have to be purchased from traders. Today, the labour of
women and children frees the weavers from time-consuming tasks such as
winding bobbins and preparing warp bundles. A final economic advantage of
basing production inside the lineage compound involves marketing directly to
end-use consumers who come to order cloth for special ceremonies and events.
This is seen as an advantage to both buyer and seller. Through direct contact, the
consumer is able to explain exactly what is wanted and negotiate the price with
the producer. The master weaver, with whom they deal, avoids either the
commission which must be paid to a middleman or the costs of carrying cloth
to market.
The bonds of kinship, tradition and economic advantages explain in part why
weavers continue to site production in lineage compounds. In addition, a final
reason that most aso-oke weaving remains compound-based is the social comfort
that such an arrangement provides. The simple technology of the horizontal
strip-cloth loom does not require a factory set-up for weaving." In 1993, Iseyin
weavers consistently stated their preference for working at home where loom
benches and racks are set up on verandas and in the open spaces between houses
- and compounds. The weavers prefer being near family, where property and
children can be supervised. A weaver can easily take a short rest when tired
or be served a meal when hungry without leaving the weaving spot. It was also
felt that the home compound offers open airy places to weave, in contrast to
centtal weaving buildings such as were advocated in some government-
sponsored programmes.
While economic individualism is practised in production, an overall hierarch-
ical organization in the lineage compound affects the craft The importance of a
craft makes matters of production a concern for all compound residents. In craft
lineages, the business of the craft is the business of the family. The bale, or
eldest resident male in a compound, is not only the head of the kin group, but is
also the final authority on all matters related to the family craft. He acts as an
intermediary between the craftspeople and important clients in the marketing of
products, and presides over periodic family meetings in which matters concern-
ing.production, prices and disputes are settled by consensus (Lloyd 1953: 34). In
the past, if the same craft was practised by several lineages in a town, a larger
overreaching organization made up of the heads of craft compounds was
I
I common. The bale of the most important or senior lineage was given jurisdic-tion over similar craft lineages, and only he dealt directly with the local oba
I- (king) or chief. Inter-lineage meetings of practising craftsmen were held so that
I he could be aware of the needs of all who practised the craft (Lloyd 1953: 34-5).
Today, with the decline of many of the indigenous crafts and the breakdown of
I traditional authority, these kinship-based organizations for the promotion of the
crafts beyond the lineage havelargely disappeared.
-Beyond kinship, the Yoruba organize themselves in other ways that have
relevance for craft production. Membership in associations (egbe) which criss-
cross lineage lines is very important to Yoruba men and women. An egbe'-lS!
basically a common interest group. Age sets, title associations, religious cults
and occupational groups are organized to promote and protect common interests
in politics, economics and religion; other egbe are formed on the basis of
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
72 Indigenous Organizations and Development
friendship for- recreation and enjoyment (Fadipe 1970: 243):- Today town
improvement associations and hometown associations formed by enclaves of _
Yorubas living outside their birthplaces are also common (Eades 1980: 61-2).
Egbe membership enters every aspect of life, because 'a person who had nb egbe
[is] not a properly adjusted and socialized being' (Fadipe 1970: 257); such a
person is regarded as an introvert and a bit of a social misfit. In all egbe, even
those formed on the basis of common occupation, a sense of friendship, mutual
aid and support binds members together and involves them in participation in
each others' projects, celebrations and life-cycle ceremonies. The ubiquity of the
Yoruba egbe is reflected in the saying: 'Put two Yorubas together and they will
form an egbe.'5 The cultural tendency to formalize group relationships is
commented upon by the Yoruba anthropologist, N.A. Fadipe, as follows.
One interesting result of this tradition of associations is that wherever there is
ail appreciable community of Yoruba, either outside Yorubaland or even only
outside their own particular communities, an organization will spring up
complete with officers. This organization will certainly have judicial func-
tions, and will have its convivial and mutual help features strongly developed.
It has been said that even in the New World, during the time of the slave trade,
the genius of the Yoruba for organizing associations found expression in ways
that were not always welcome to their masters.
(Fadipe, 1970: 243)
Two types of egbe are particularly relevant to understanding indigenous craft
organizations: the esusu and the occupational egbe? The esusu functions as a
kind of credit association in which a group of people pool their .money. Set
contributions of cash are collected from members periodically, and the total IS
given to one member as a lump sum in rotation. Members receive their share in
sequence (Fadipe1970: 256-7; Eades 1980: 77; Bascom 1952). The esusu is still
an important financial institution in Yorubaland, and it is common for friends
and co-workers in the formal sector to organize esusu. They are also it feature of
the informal sector, particularly among craftspeople and traders who need to
invest money periodically in their businesses (Eades 1980: 77). The esusu allows
the craftsperson to buy raw materials or tools and the trader to expand stock with
relative-ease.
Occupational egbe emerge when the products of a craft industry gain impor-
tance as a commodity, such as in the case of strip-woven cloth. Occupational
egbe are formal organizations that are established to protect the economic status
and interests ofa craft, to regulate production and trade, and to provide mutual
aid to members (Fadipe 1970: 254-55; Eades 1980: 160). They differ from esusu
in that they do not pool money to lend to members. They basically fill the gap
left by the disappearance of the older kin-based organizations made up of lineage
. heads, but the membership is less restricted. Most weavers, for example, belong
to one Or more occupational egbe in which members are bound to each other not
only economically but also socially. Members support each other not only in the
interests of their craft, but also in their life events-weddings, naming ceremo-
nies and funerals.
In the past, it was often the case that only members of the appropriate egbe
could practise a trade in a particular town (Fadipe 1970: 254-5). These occupa-
tional groups resembled the craft guilds of the European renaissance in that
membership was a prerequisite to producing and selling a craft. Apprenticeship
took place within the context of the group, the group provided financial help in
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 73
times of need, and acted as a 'power block' in dealing with the local government
(Cole 1983: 20-1). However, one must question the uncritical use of the term
'guild' to describe these Yoruba egbe that linked kin-groups, that is, lineages,
together for common action. The membership of European guilds was not based
on kinship, and the guild was more of a mechanism through which the political
and religious elite controlled the production of the arts than an organization
formed for the common good of the membership (Cole 1983: 20-1).
In the case of cloth weaving, the indigenous occupational egbe has played an
important role in organizing production, and particularly in marketing. In addi-
tion, the importance of cloth as commodity has encouraged external efforts to
control and shape production and marketing. Attempts have been made by the
British colonial and Nigerian national governments to establish craft centres and
co-operatives. However, as we shall show, it is the indigenous forms of organiz-
ing production and marketing-lineage-based production groups and egbe mar-
.keting associations-that have prevailed and are responsible for the continuing
vitality of the aso-oke industry. Iseyin provides an example.
Iseyin: a case-study
Iseyin, the present headquarters of the Iseyin Local Government Area of Oyo
State, Nigeria, has been a centre for the production of aso-oke strip-woven cloth
since the town was established in the early nineteenth century during the period
of the Yoruba wars that marked the decline of the Oyo Empire. In the 1820s, the
. population of Iseyin swelled with the influx of refugees from Oyo Ile ~d
Ogbomosho, including a vigorous Muslim community that brought the weaving
techniques of the horizontal loom to the town (Bray 1974: 143). Iseyin lay at the
junction of two established nineteenth-century long-distance trade routes, one
running west to the region of present-day Ghana and the other linking the
northern Hausa-dorninated trans-Saharan trade routes to the southern Yoruba .
population centres; such as Abeokuta and Lagos (Dodwell 1955; Falola 19.2,.1':
125). Once peace came to the area, the aso-oke industry in Iseyin was energized
by these trade opportunities. However, with the twentieth-century development
of major arterial roads and the railway system, Iseyin was bypassed. The town
lost importance as a market centre. It retained its trade links for aso-oke largely
through the efforts of indigenous long-distance traders and trading organizations
(egbe), so that it continued to be a major production centre for aso-oke. To this
day, the marketing of the bulk of Iseyin cloth is in the hands of weaver-traders
who carry aso-oke to regional cloth markets (such as Oje market in Ibadan,
Jankara market in Lagos, the Ede market, and, of late, Araromi market in Oyo),
which attract traders who buy goods to carry to secondary markets in Nigeria and
other areas of West Africa.
In the mid-1950s. shortly before Nigerian independence, the Iseyin strip-
weaving industry was described as 'flourishing' (Dodwell 1955). C. B. Dod-
well, who studied Iseyin in 1952-3, described a town where one in five adult
men were weavers who produced about one million square yards of aso-oke a
year (Dodwell, 1955: 118).7 Dodwell linked the vitality of the industry to a
general increase in textile purchases throughout British West Africa in the
prosperous period following World War II (Dodwell 1955) Once the wartime
ban on imported thread was lifted, production in Iseyinexpanded to meet these
new demands. In the decade following the war, the value of thread imports to
Nigeria rose from L450000 in 1945 to Ll734000 in 1953 (Dodwell 1955: 124).
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
74 Indigenous Organizations and Development
Iseyin consumed 20 per cent of these imports (Dodwell 1955). In a more
thorough study done in 1965-6, Jennifer Bray described an Iseyin strip-woven
cloth industry that had grown in the twelve years since Dodwell made his
observations. Drawing upon the 1966 Iseyin tax rolls, she estimated that Z?
per cent of the total male population was engaged in full-or part-time weaving,
with 1540 full-time weavers drawn from 188 of the 670 compounds of the town
(Bray 1974: 144). Eighty per cent of the full-time weavers were concentrated
into six of the 17 town quarters while most part-time weavers were scattered
through the non-specialist quarters (Bray 1969: 540). The annual production of
aso-oke by Iseyin weavers at that time was estimated at a minimum of 1031800
square yards by full-time weavers and an additional 1333330 square yards by
part-time weavers. 'It is probably no great exaggeration, therefore,' Bray claims,
'to suggest that the annual production of cloth in Iseyin is approximately 2.5
million square yards' (Bray 1969: 548). Bray concluded that:
Iseyin is by far the most important center of men's weaving in Nigeria, and
the combined production of other towns, such as Ilorin and Oyo, is unlikely to
be higher than that of Iseyin itself.
(Bray 1969: 548)
At the same time, however, Bray voiced a concern about the future of the Iseyin
industry, pointing out that it was 'stagnant' with little or no recruitment to the
craft taking place (Bray 1969: 551).
Despite Bray's doubts, Iseyin has remained an important centre for weaving,
despite the competition from newly emerging weaving workshops in Ibadan,
Ondo, Ilesha, etc. There are a number of reasons why the Iseyin weaving industry
has remained vital despite the competition it faced. Most important are the ways
in which Iseyin weavers organize themselves for production and for marketing.
Organizing for production and marketing
Indigenous organization
When Dodwell visited Iseyin 40 years ago (Dodwell 1955), he observed three
categories of economic and social groupings that organized aso-oke production.
These were the extended family or lineage production group, production units
within the lineage controlled by entrepreneurial weavers, and, finally, indepen-
dent weavers who broke away from the other types of groupings to work alone.
All were indigenous developments and are still evident in Iseyin today.
The kin-based group made up of a core of related weavers who weave in their
lineage or extended family compounds is still conspicuous. Such a group can be
as small as a father and his unmarried sons working together or may involve a
larger residential group made up of the married and unmarried members of a
patrilineage living and working in a large residential compound. As we have
already seen, this type of kin-based co-operating production group has a number
of advantages. It is in this context that a boy usually receives his initial training
as a Weaver and at the same time contributes to the production and economic
gain of the family. Beginning with simple, tasks such as winding thread on to
spools and preparing warp bundles, by the mid-teens a child is capable of
unsupervised work and is set up by the family with the equipment and working
, capital needed to weave independently. The elder male compound head normally
gives UP' weaving to supervise the family work. He determines patterns and
quantity of cloth to be produced, buys and distributes the thread needed for
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 75
production, sells the finished cloth, and distributes the profits between the family
weavers (Dodwell 1955). This type of craft organization with its roots in the
indigenous social organization of Yoruba patrilineal society is still the norm in
Iseyin today. The greatest change has been the role of women in the aso-oke
industry. In the past, wives and daughters played a vital role in spinning and
dyeing thread. Today little handspun thread is used and machine-spun thread is
most often bought already dyed. However, an important change has occurred in
the gender restrictions of craft production in weaving. Strip-weaving, which in
the past was restricted to males, is now also done by young women. This is in
part due to the lack of opportunities for female school-leavers in their natal
hometowns, government encouragement of open apprenticeship, and the vitality
of the weaving industry which can incorporate an ever-growing work force.
The second type of grouping for weaving production involves the organizing
abilities of entrepreneurial master weavers who supervise production and market
the products. Entrepreneurial weavers who have accumulated sufficient capital to
support other younger weavers take on young people as apprentices or hire those
who. are already trained in the basics of weaving but lack the capital needed for
independence. Young weavers can turn to these master weavers, usually rela-
tives,8 who supply them with thread, the principal expenditure in weaving. The
.master then sells the finished cloth, takes a commission, and returns the remain-
ing profit to the producer or pays him or her an agreed-upon fee for the job done.
At the time Bray did her study in the early 1960s, this arrangement usually
involved a family group in which an older successful member carried out his
entrepreneurial activities in the context of family. Today, entrepreneurial wea-
vers practise a more open recruitment policy in building up a production unit.
Apprentices are accepted from outside family groups and even outside Iseyin
itself In field observations in 1993, we discovered that apprentices, especially
students, came from. other towns such as Shaki, Okeho, Oyo, Ogbomosho, Ado-
Awaye and even Ibadan.
The final category of production organization involves younger independent
weavers, who, through their own efforts, raise the capital to break away from a
dependency relationship with an entrepreneurial master weaver. They own their I
equipment and buy their own thread or get it on credit and sell their cloth for t
themselves. With time, many of these independent weavers raise the capital to Ii
become entrepreneurs themselves. Dodwell noted that the majority of dependent
weavers were able to achieve independence by the age of 35. By age 40 most
were fathers training their sons and were themselves often extended family
heads, so that production reverted to the family-based indigenous pattern
(Dodwell 1955). Individual weavers often work in the context of all three types
of organization in their life careers (Dodwell 1955: 132-4).
Whether weavers are part of a family, entrepreneurial, or independent produc-
tionunit, the family compound still remains the preferred production site in
Iseyin. Attempts to introduce weaving centres or villages have failed because
individual weavers- perceive the advantages mentioned previously to working in
.family compounds. .
Marketing, like production, is 'organized using indigenous guidelines in Iseyin.
The aso-oke traders are also weavers, assuring that there is a close linkage
between market demands and cloth production quantity and quality. The weaver-
traders are organized into occupational egbe that have the primary function of
linking weavers into regional trading networks that broaden the market-base for
Iseyin cloth. Local marketing is still primarily in the hands of individual weavers
._•. i
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
76 Indigenous Organizations and Development
who sell their own cloth or that of. their apprentices in the compounds. In Iseyin,
weavers can sell directly to the terminal consumers, either to patrons who come
to their compounds to commission cloth or who buy stockpiled goods in the
Iseyin night market which has been in operation for over one hundred years.
However, most Iseyin aso-oke is sold outside the town. This trade has been
dominated for many years by members of egbe trading organizations who carry
the cloth to regional markets, particularly those that specialize in cloth in Ibadan
and Lagos.
, According to Alhaji Gbeko Shittu, the Baba Alaari of Iseyin," who was in his
eighties when interviewed in 1993, the cloth traders first organized into egbe
trading organizations about 50 years ago to increase their marketing opportu-
nities outside of Iseyin. Up to that time, Shittu stated, each weaver sold his own
products in Iseyin. The organization of the first egbe may very well have been
due to factors associated with World War II when petrol shortages affected travel'
and transport within the country at the same time as it created an increased
demand for locally produced goods, such as cloth.
In 1955, Dodwell noted that the aso-oke industry in Iseyin was 'dominated by
the cloth traders, the most interesting and important figures in it' (Dodwell
1955). At that time, these traders were formed into two organizations. One
group carried cloth to Ibadan for resale, the other to Lagos (Dodwell 1955).
As reported by Bray almost a decade later (1963), all trade in Iseyin cloth to the
important cloth markets of Ibadan and Lagos was controlled by these .two large
Iseyin egbe: Egbe Ero Ibadan and Egbe Ero Eko (Lagosj.l'' Members were full-
or part-time affluent weavers from large compounds; no non-weavers were
allowed to join. Weavers from smaller compounds and part-time weavers, who l'
were less likely to have accumulated the capital needed for trade,called upon I
members of the organizations to represent them in the markets to the south (Bray , [
1968: 276). Egbe Era Ibadan had 311 members and Egbe Ero Eko had 335.
Their combined membership incorporated over 40 per cent of the full-time
weavers in Iseyin (Bray 1968: 276). The primary function of the two trading
organizations was to transport and sell cloth. Money collected as entrance fees I,
and dues was used to rent lorriess'o-tharttaaers could carry cloth to the markets
for a minimal charge (Bray 1968: 276). The associations left the problems of
I capital accumulation to initiate weaving to compound and extended family
production units; individual weavers could apply to their local esusu. How-
ever, the trader-members often bought the imported thread where it was cheaper
for the use of the weavers in their own compounds to promote production. The I
traders who attended the periodic cloth markets also played an important role in
keeping the weavers informed about fashions in cloth. Although individual
patrons played some part by bringing fashionable aso-oke samples to be cop-
ied, the weaver-traders who attended the markets introduced popular new
designs into the repertoires of their hometowns (Okuwa 1989: 34). II
In the 1990s, the Egbe Alaso-oke Iseyin (The Association of Iseyin Aso-oke
Cloth Sellers), dominated by members of the Egbe Ero Ibadan, was the
organization most mentioned by master weavers as controlling cloth production
and marketing. However, the dominance of the association was challenged in
1993 when, a, third trading egbe emerged. A group of trader-weavers formed a
new association with the goal of establishing a major cloth market for Iseyin
products at Ararorni market in Oyo, a large city a few miles away on a major
north-south road. At that time petrol shortages were the norm, and travel
expenses were on the rise. The idea was to increase profits by reducing the
\ :
i::
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 77
expenses of long-distance transport, as well as reduce travel risks. A further
advantage was that cloth unsold at the end of a market day could easily be carried
back to Iseyin, rather than being sold at a reduced price in Ibadan or Lagos. The new
.. market was established at Oyo, but it had limited success. A division among the
sponsoring weaver-traders quickly emerged, and some traders renewed their
affiliation with the Egbe Alaso-oke Iseyin and returned to trading in Ibadan.
. The continuing strerigth and long life of the Egbe Alaso-oke Iseyin is largely
due to its links with the largest and most dominant cloth market in the region:
Oje market in Ibadan. Founded at the end of the nineteenth century, the Oje cloth
market is a specialized periodic market for cloth that meets every 16 days and
attracts thousands of traders from the region. Cloth sold at Oje is carried to
, " secondary markets throughout Nigeria and many parts of West Africa. While the
Egbe Alaso-oke Iseyin is an indigenous organization which arose to meet local
needs, its links with Oje market assures the Iseyin weavers a place in the wider
.regional trade network.
Recent research done at Oje market (Ogunsanwo 1985; Okuwa 1989) reveals I
that the Egbe Alaso-oke Iseyin is part of a much larger indigenous marketing
organization. An Egbe Alaso-oke, founded in Ibadan in the late 1890s, meets I
regularly with representatives of 'sister "associations' from 26 towns that take I-
part in the Oje cloth market (Ogunsanwo 1985: 41-3). Iseyin is one of these. The I
27 local egbe make up a larger association, Egbe Awon Alaso-oke (The
Association of Aso-Oke Sellers), with representatives weavers-traders from
the major aso-oke weaving towns including Iseyin, Shaki, Ilorin, Ogbomosho, :1I
Ede and Oyo (Okuwa 1989: 52). Okuwa estimated there were over 5000 "I"I
members of this association in the late 1989s. The Egbe Awon Alaso-oke as
an organization has little formal structure, no entrance fees or dues, no appointed j! .
officers, and no regular meetings. If group decisions need to be made, the
officials of the local egbe co-operate to instigate action (Okuwa 1989: 53).
Despite the lack of organization, each individual member of the 'Egbe Awon
Alaso-oke is issued a membership card that acts as an entrance ticket to sell in
Oje market and is said to help 'to sustain a friendly, peaceful and co-operative
atmosphere among weavers, especially when they come to trade in Oje market'
(Okuwa 1989: 53). While the Egbe Awon Alaso-oke appears rather benign, it has
the potential of being mobilized for action when needed. For example, in the
1970s, when inflated prices for the thread used in weaving meant that indigenous
strip-cloth could not compete with the prices of imported cloth, the Egbe stepped
in and acted as an agent to get thread in bulk for members at a lower rate. At that
time most cotton thread being used in the manufacture of aso-oke was being
. imported from India. The weaving associations of all the 27 towns of the Egbe
Awon Alaso-oke joined in contributing money to send representatives to India to
purchase thread directly for the joint association, thereby bypassing the middle-
men who. had kept the price of thread high. In 1977, they dealt with another
crisis. In that year, the importation of thread was banned by the government. The
association was able to redirect their bulk purchasing to newly established
Nigerian thread factories in Ilorin and Kano (Ogunsanwo 1985: 44). Much of
the thread used today is still purchased and resold through the sister associations
of the Egbe Awon Alaso-oke.
In recent times a number of different associations has emerged alongside the l
older egbe.Such organizations have been less focused on marketing, and have i
concentrated instead on the needs of the producing weavers and their financial
and technological requirements. Most have taken the form of co-operatives I
I
I
11--
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
78 Indigenous Organizations and Development
organized with the aid of the gov.ernment. They have failed largely because of
their lack of indigenous organization.
Government-sponsored organizations
The broader background. Craft production has been a focus of government
intervention programmes in Nigeria beginning in the colonial period and
.extending to the present. Early attempts to organize indigenous craft produc-
tion occurred in the period between world wars I and II. This period between
1920 and 1940 was a time of economic stagnation in European countries and in
their dependencies (Crowder 1962: 235). In Nigeria, the colonial government
focused its efforts on increasing agricultural development for export, and to
achieve this set up co-operatives. The British attitude towards Nigerians'
ability to. organize themselves for production is expressed in its most extreme
form in a speech made by Lord Leverhulme, the head of Lever Brothers, at a
dinner held for Sir Hugh Clifford, then Governor of Nigeria, in 1924. Lever-
hulme, who was hoping to set up plantations in Southern Nigeria, made the
following statement:
I am certain that the West African race have to be treated very much as one
would treat children when they are immature and underdeveloped. We have
excellent materials. I don't know better materials anywhere for labour in the
tropics than the natives of West Africa, but they are not organized ... Now
the organizing ability is the particular trait and characteristic of the white man
.... I say this with my little experience, that the African native will be happier,
produce the best, and live under the larger conditions of prosperity when his
labour is directed and organized by his white brother who has all the million
years'· start ahead of him!
(Crowder 1962: 236)
The plantation system proposed by Leverhulme was never imposed upon Nigeria,
but a certain amount of paternalistic policy was evident in the programmes
implemented to increase the efficiency of agriculture and craft production.
In 1933, the British colonial government commissioned an expert on co-
operatives in India, C.F. Strickland, to examine the possibilities of establishing
such organizations in Nigeria (Koll 1969: 60). While Strickland was primarily
concerned with agricultural co-operatives, he called attention to preserving and
expanding handcraft production (Koll 1969: 60). Noting that craftsmen were no
longer training their children and apprentices in the skills of their trades because
of the declining market for indigenous arts, he recommended the following. Not
only should craft co-operatives be organized, but, in addition, local technical
industrial schools should be established 'to teach a genuinely African art, while
improving technical methods and multiplying African designs' (Strickland 1934
quoted by Koll 1969: 61). School-leavers, trained in advanced forms of a craft,
would become core members of co-operatives. Local co-operatives were to
promote sales of their craft products by building sales shops on main roads,
appointing representatives in major cities such as Lagos to publicize and sell
their products, and distribute illustrated catalogues with price lists. This would
all be done with financial aid from the Native Authority (Strickland 1934 in Koll
1969: 61). Such a programme would, he argued, make the products of the co-
operative societies competitive with foreign imports. For the success of such
projects, Strickland recommended:
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 79
The task of the co-operative organizer is to discover what improvements of
any description the more reflective of the people theoretically desire, and then
to organize them in a joint effort to secure the improvement
. (Strickland 1934: 3-4 quoted in Koll 1969: 61)
The Co-operative Societies Law, passed as a result of Strickland's recommenda-
tions, tooka paternalistic stance. State-controlled co-operative societies were to
be supervised closely so as not to make mistakes and should not be exposed to
'the risks of independence' (Koll 1969: 69). Strickland's perception of co-
operatives was a European concept to be transplanted to the Nigerian context
which was seen as 'an empty bowl waiting to be filled' (Koll 1969: 68)Y Strict
regulations regarding the by-laws and structure of the new co-operatives did not
take into account pre-existing indigenous societies (Koll 1969: 69). 'A co-
operative understanding and spirit will need time to grow' (Strickland 1934:
3, quoted by Koll 1969: 69). In 1935, a national Co-operative Department was
set up following Strickland's advice (Koll 1969: 62). A government-appointed
registrar was given authority to direct the development of co-operative organi-
zations and see that they conformed to the regulations stipulated by law. In
colonial Nigeria of the 1930s, this meant that the registrar had to satisfy the
needs of an export economy by concentrating on the production of raw materials
for European markets. The focus, from the beginning, was on agricultural co-
operatives. Almost no action was taken on craft co-operatives until 1938/39
when the first survey of native crafts was carried out. K.c. Murray and A. Hunt-
Coke, working in the Yoruba area, suggested that already existing indigenous
.craft societies should be encouraged to:
eliminate the inefficient and redundant worker, to regulate prices and prevent
cut-throat competition, and to guarantee to the public some measure of quality.
(Murray and Hunt-Coke quoted by Koll 1969: 62-3)
Murray further suggested the need for additional exclusive 'Guilds of High-
Grade Workmen' to set the standards for a craft (Murray 1938: 13-114 quoted
by Koll 1969: 63). These recommendations were 'filed and forgotten' (Koll
1969:63).
The first officially sanctioned craft co-operatives to emerge-the Ikot-Ekpene
Co-operative Raffia Marketing Society in eastern Nigeria and the Benin Co-
operative Woodworkers' Society in south-central Nigeria were reported in the
1944 Report ofthe Co-operative Department. They were oriented towards public
service and the production of utilitarian materials-raffia for export and Eur-
opean-style furniture (Koll 1969: 63). The government's lack of interest in craft
organizations continued, so that between 1945 and 1951 only eight craft societies
were registered with the Co-operative Department (Koll 1969: 64). Only four
additional co-operatives for crafts were registered in 1952, seven in 1953-4 and
14 in 1960-61.13
Government-sponsored organizations in Iseyin. Government efforts during
the colonial era to organize hand-loomed textile production focused on introdu-
cing new technologies. In 1937, Murray and Hunt-Cooke, who had described
Iseyin as 'the chief stronghold' of men's narrow-strip weaving in their survey of
indigenous craft industries in southwestern Nigeria, proposed that European
broad-loom weaving be introduced through the Iseyin Native Administration
school. The immediate goal was to provide cloth for uniforms for Native
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
80 Indigenous Organizations and Development
Administration' employees. Through instructing the sons of weavers, Murray
proposed; the Iseyin weavers would be encouraged 'to develop their craft and ,-
keep in step with the general progress of Nigeria by taking up some improve-
ments on their present methods.' He further added, 'The co-operation of the local
weavers would be essential to the success of the scheme.' Despite several'
attempts over the next 25 years (the latest in 1963) broad-loom weaving never
replaced the indigenous technology.!"
Government attempts to organize the Iseyin strip-weaving industry also met
with indifferent success. In Iseyin, the first co-operative society for weavers was
founded around 1958 with headquarters at Oke-Oja, one of the busiest quarters
for weaving and marketing of aso-oke. It was called the 'Co-operative Weavers'
Thrift and Credit Society' (Wahab 1980:23). The commercial importance of
cloth production was reflected in the fact that the society was registered as a
'Thrift and Credit' co-operative rather than an 'Arts and Crafts' societyY The I'
society'S major function was similar to that of the indigenous esusu. Members
contributed fixed amounts of money out of which loans were given to members
who had investment needs and who paid the money back with a fixed interest
(Wahab 1980: 23). The society also attempted to increase members' profits by
acting as a marketing organization, selling cloth woven by members in bulk
outside Iseyin. An additional money-raising strategy involved giving contracts to
non-member weavers to weave aso-oke which was marketed for the profit of the
society (Wahab 1980: 23). Unfortunately, the contractors to whom they loaned
money did not always produce the promised cloth. The society collapsed in
1966, when they went bankrupt as the result of 'bad loans' .In retrospect, it was
felt that 'the society failed also because of the uncooperative attitude of some
members who showed no sense of direction and dedication' (Wahab 1980: 23).
In 1966, Bray observed four weaving co-operative societies in Iseyin that had
been registered with the government since September 1963 (Bray 1968: 277).
Although Bray remarks that 'weavers' co-operative societies are now a conspic-
uous feature in the production and marketing of traditional cloth in Iseyin', only
126 weavers were members of the four societies (Bray 1968: 277). Membership
was tied to lineage membership and residence so that three of the societies drew
their weavers from single quarters and group of families related through kinship,
while the fourth larger co-operative catered to a wider range of weavers (Bray
1968: 277). Like the earlier Thrift and Credit Society, these organizations played
roles similar to the indigenous esusu. societies, but with government-monitored
funds. Membership entrance fees and regular dues were deposited in the Co-
operative Bank in Ibadari and members were issued shares in the co-operative.
Loans were made to members for weaving purposes only, particularly to buy
thread. Loan applications were discussed by meetings of the full membership.
Each co-operative functioned as an independent organization although represen-
tatives had to report progress at monthly joint meetings of all such trade co-
operatives in Iseyin (Bray 1968: 278). In addition to acting as a loaning agency,
three of the four co-operative societies functioned as buying and selling organi-
zations for their members. Two societies had accounts with expatriate trading
companies and were able to buy and sell thread cheaply-One society, in fact, set
up a shop on the main street of Iseyin where it sold thread, charging slightly
lower prices to its own members (Bray 1968: 278). Three or four members of
each of these co-operatives belonged to older well-established Egbe Ero Ibadan
and EgbeEro Eko in order to have access to the major cloth markets to the south
(Bray 1968; 278).
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 81
In 1993 the co-operatives described by Bray were defunct. Interviews with
master weavers revealed that co-operatives had low visibility and seemed of
little concern. Only one new co-operative, the 'Weavers' Association', was
·mentioned. It was organized to aid weavers in Koso Quarter where weaving
had only recently challenged farming as a major economic activity.
Other government-sponsored weaving organizations have emerged in Iseyin
as new needs arise. For example, the 'Nigerian Native Clothes Weavers'
Association', was observed in Iseyin in 1980 (Wahab 1980: 24). The main
goal of the association was to re-establish cotton growing in the region, so
that the raw materials needed for thread could be produced more cheaply.
Established in 1974, the association was regional in scope with branches in 20
other towns cutting across Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Kwara states: There were S2
members in Iseyin. Members contributed money to the accounts of the associa-
tion as well as sold cloth in bulk and diverted the profits to the society (Wahab
1980: 24). This association was not mentioned by weavers in 1993. This is not to
say that there is a dearth of weaving organizations in Iseyin at this time.
Master weavers interviewed in 1993 mentioned a number of weaving-related
groups. The 'Weavers' Brothers and Weavers' Sisters', which recognizes the
growing number of women who have turned to strip-weaving in the last decade,
is said to be challenging the older Egbe Alaso Oke. Two other associations, with
weavers as members, seem to be akin to esusu societies. The 'Amuludun
Society' and the 'Ifesowapo Society' ~ere organized 'just to help each other
in the business'. A 'Junior Weavers' Club', established in 1986, is very active.
The goals of this organization seem very similar to indigenous age-grade egbe
·associations. The club assists members 'having misfortune', protects the inter-
ests of members from outside interference and provides representation to the
government. Members assist the local authority in the case of provision of local
amenities, and 'rally round each other during ceremonies' and in times of trouble
or difficulties.
Iseyin weaving organizations seem to be most successful when they emerge
spontaneously to band together for mutual aid at times of perceived need. The
egbe that incorporates indigenous leadership structures and administrative
arrangements and is built on the bonds of friendship as well as shared occupa-
tion is as successful today as it was in the past. Government intervention
programmes that ignore such pre-existing indigenous organizations seem
doomed to failure. An example of government intervention in craft pr~duction
provides us with a cautionary tale. This is a story of a well-meaning government-
sponsored weaving project in Iseyin that failed because of the lack of indigenous
input.
In 1963, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Industry
(without the Co-operative Department) launched an Integrated Rural Develop-
ment Scheme. A White Paper on Integrated Rural Development was issued by
the Western Nigerian government, presenting a scheme to provide employment
for school-leavers. which would keep them in the small towns of their birth
through establishing farm settlements and rural industries. Weaving was a focus
·for a co-ordinated programme "Involving several rninistries.l? Locally grown
cotton, obtained through the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources,
would be spun into thread in small factories set up by the Ministry of Trade
and Industry and sold to Training Centres for Weavers and Co-operative
Weavers' Production Units, also organized by the Ministry of Trade and
Industry. The final link in the chain was to make it compulsory for local schools
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
82 Indigenous Organizations and Development
to buy the cloth for their school uniforms from the weaving co-operatives and
patronize Co-operative Tailors' Production Units. It was calculated that this
scheme would provide approximately 20000 new jobs in the region (Koll
1969: 86). The scheme failed.
The Iseyin Weaving Centre, established in 196317 and closed two and a half
years later, provides an example of the experience. The Western Region govern-
ment built the Weaving Centre at Iseyin with the aim of modernizing the narrow-
loom weaving industry. It provided 50 'modern' looms and equipment and the
capital to cover the cost of initial expenses. The Iseyin District Council chose 50
students (46 males, four females) who were sent to train at the Oyo Weaving
Centre which had been established earlier. After six months of training, they
returned to Iseyin to form the Co-operative Textile Weavers' Society which was
registered with the government and was eligible for government monetary
incentives.
The Iseyin Weaving Centre was not a true co-operative. The young newly-
trained and inexperienced weavers were under the control of salaried adminis-
trators appointed and paid by the ministries. There was one Higher Textile
Officer, one Textile Officer, two Demonstrators and a Supervisor. The officers
went to the schools in the area and collected the patterns to be woven for the
school uniforms. The weavers at the centre, who were given a monthly stipend,
were allocated these patterns to produce. On completion, the officers would
collect the cloth, sell it to the schools and deposit the money into the co-
. operative's account. The monthly stipends paid to the weavers were based on
. the total amount of cloth each produced,
At its height, the IseyinWeaving Centre produced school uniforms for four
primary schools and two secondary schools, along with napkins, towels and
women's wrappers, as major products. However, the centre and co-operative
. society collapsed in less than three years. A number of reasons can be men-
tioned.
o The quality of the product was poor. The schools complained that the uni-
forms, now compulsory for students, lasted only a few months.
o The new technology introduced, that is, the new loom types, was perceived as
having no advantage over the indigenous narrow-strip looms in use in Iseyin.
The technology was not considered appropriate by the local weavers, and the
weavers complained that weaving on the new looms was more strenuous than
using the older-style looms.
o The income of the centre weavers was low. While the new looms provided
wider cloth for 'modern' uses, the weavers produced fewer yards per day than
was possible on the narrow-strip horizontal looms used in the town. The
weavers, paid by the yard, complained that they did not make the equivalent
of independent weavers.
o The government offered no further financial aid beyond the initial start-up
costs for the centre. Once the start-up fund was finished, the centre got into
financial difficulties. Customers were often slow to pay for goods, and in some
cases defaulted. In addition, stockpiled goods sold slowly. With a lack of
available capital, the centre had difficulty purchasing thread and other materi-
als needed for the production of further orders.
o The lack of funds also meant that often the weavers were not paid promptly
for their work. For example, at one point, the weavers did not receive their
,I\
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 83
stipends for four months and were unable to meet their domestic arid social
responsibilities.
o The government's focus upon organizing co-operatives and training opportu-
nities primarily as a measure to provide employment for school-leavers was
inappropriate. The youth and inexperience of the weavers was a factor in an
area where weaving was well established and value was placed upon age,
seniority and experience.
i o Finally, the government policy of keeping government ministry employees in
! the position of decision-makers for the co-operative prevented involvement
I and acceptance by the larger weaving community of Iseyin.
I . Thirty years later, the basic distrust of those in control of this experiment in co-
i operative production was voiced by weavers who remembered the centre.
Reasons mentioned for the failure of the centre included: 'financial mismanage-
I . ment and politics', 'bad administration, financial inefficiency', and 'lack ofincentives by the government'. Further statements sum up the local attitude-
! 'It failed because people lacked co-operation. Some people went against the idea
I while some supported the idea.' 'Failure was due to the fact that the weaversbelieved that to run their business independently is better than being undergovernment. '
\ It is, perhaps, this final reason that gets at the heart of the problems that beset
the Iseyin Weaving Centre and prevented its success. The government planners
ignored the fact that in Iseyin weaving production and marketing were already
\,I organized and regulated by functioning organizations that were accepted by theI people. and that had been in place for a long time. It has been said that to be
~ successful co-operatives must be self-supporting grassroots developments gen-
"1 erated through local efforts and profitable to members. Members must also be'
l self-governing and self-policing so that ethical standards and product quality are
\ maintained. The indigenous lineage-based production groups and egbe weaving
organizations of Iseyin fulfilled these criteria. Rather than build upon these roots,
i the government planners chose to introduce new technology and products,
I change the structure 'of the work force and take almost total control of produc-
I tion and marketing. This is why the Iseyin Weaving Centre failed.
In contrast, it is possible to blend the indigenous organization with the
1 government-registered co-operative. The Egbe Alaso-oke IS!.Y-Ll1:':f)raesgistered
I' as a co-operative with the Department Of Co-operatives in 1967/Already wellorganized as an indigenous egbe, it merely expanded i'is-functions when it
became a co-operative. Its major goals, today as in the past, are primarily
concerned with the marketing of Iseyin aso-oke, to keep production prices
low, and to regulate market prices and competition. Besides controlling cloth
trade, the Egbe Alaso-oke Iseyin as a co-operative has added the further func-
tions of educating weavers by advising them on production, materials and prices;
giving technological and financial assistance to members; and advising them on
l
I
I how to relate to. the government.
I
! Conclusions
\
L Aso-oke, the popular Yoruba textile, has stood the test of time and has retained
;I its value as a status symbol and an expression of Yorubaness in the face of stiff
~ competition from modern fabrics and technologies, as well as unfavourable
! government policies. The Iseyin aso-oke industry has not only survived but 1.
I.
( Il · •
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
84 Indigenous Organizations and Development
grown in the modern: era. This is in large part due to the strength of the
indigenous organizations that regulate production and marketing through both
kinship structures and egbe organizations that cross-cut kinship ties. The eco-
nomic character ofthe industry in which production remains in the context of the
lineage and marketing in the hands of local trading organizations has guaranteed
that price and quality of products remain competitive in the modern market.
Marion Johnson, the economic historian, in a discussion of the competition
that local hand-woven textile industries had to face as textile imports from
Europe and Asia flowed into West Africa, attempts to explain why local hand-
woven cloth industries survived and successfully met that competition (Johnson,
1978). The West African market for cloth is huge. While textiles can be
considered a luxury because they are not essential for survival, they have
become 'conventional necessities' (Johnson 1978: 266). Throughout West
Africa, with the rise of cash incomes and the new 'middle-class' elite that
accompanied colonialism, consumption of cloth, once the prerogative of the
indigenous leadership elites, began to rise. To this day, increases in population
and living standards continue to widen .the market for all types of cloth (Johnson
1978: 267-8). Clothing from hand-woven indigenous types of cloth, in particular,
has been adopted by the contemporary elites as a visible symbol of prosperity,
status and pride in ethnic heritage.
The aso-oke weaving industry of Iseyin, along with Ghanaian kente weaving
. industries, are mentioned by Johnson as examples of 'the most successful of the
modem industries' that have expanded as a result of the patronage of these new
elites and 'the loosening of many old restrictions' surrounding textile use (Johnson
1978: 267). Ultimately, according to Johnson, they are successful because they can
price their products to be competitive with other prestige textiles.
An elite demand depends partly on fashion, partly on political and religious
attitudes, and very little on price; indeed, any attempt to reduce prices might
prove self-defeating, since part of the demand depends on the expensiveness of
the product. For all but the wealthiest consumers, however, price is important.
Only if the local weaver can produce cloth whose price, in terms of attractive-
ness and durability, can compete with imported cottons, can he hope to stay in
business (Johnson 1978: 267).
For Johnson, indigenous textiles such as aso-oke can successfully compete in
the market-place with machine-loomed cloth because the price is right. She
attributes this to the fact that the costs of production are low because the
average weaver works in the context of the family residence, often farming
and relying on the labour of other family members. 'Under such a system the
marginal costs of production are virtually nil' (Johnson 1978: 267). This is true,
as we have shown'. The strength of the Iseyin weaving industry-and that of
other weaving towns-is that production is located in the context of kinship
. group compounds. The compound provides a safety-net for members. Weaving
and related craft skills are learned by most children in the context of family. It is
an occupation that can. be picked up as a full-time adult occupation or something
to fall back upon if other professional opportunities do not emerge, or terminate.
Johnson's argument that home production keeps the cost of producing cloth
down is sound, but cost of production alone does not explain how Iseyin has
gained its fame as 'The Home of Aso-oke': Despite the individual weaver's
supposed freedom in the production and sale of aso-oke, indigenous organiza-
tions and the leadership and support they provide continue to exert tremendous
influence on every aspect of the weaving industry. Without the localized trading
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 85
egbe that collaborate in the marketing of Iseyin cloth throughout the region, the
industry could not support the level of production it now attains.
In Iseyin, Egbe Alaso Oke, in particular, is very active in regulating every
aspect of production and distribution of aso-oke. Various smaller egbe comple-
ment the role of Egbe Alaso Oke by assisting members in acquiring start-up and
production costs, but also link members together in networks of friendship and
meaningful communal activities. These indigenous organizations have operated
successfully ,have demonstrated their ability to adapt to changing social and
economic conditions, and are still growing stronger. Government attempts to
supersede this arrangement and introduce new forms of weaving production and
. marketing have failed, because they did not take into consideration the existing
indigenous organizations and administrative structure. The indigenous egbe
remain strong because membership forges strong social and economic links,
and members recognize and have confidence in their leaders 'who are usually
. appointed on the basis of age and experience.
Outside agencies must recognize that there is little to be gained by replacing a
functioning system of indigenous organizations that has proven its ability to
succeed in the competitive arena of textile marketing such as we see in Iseyin. In
terms of future development, it is clear that the value of working with existing
indigenous weavers' organizations must be recognized. Such indigenous organiza-
tions not only provide local leadership acceptable to the producers and consumers
of an important cultural commodity, but also provide opportunities for individual
members to participate in the development process. Efforts should be made to
encourage every weaver in Iseyin town to be an active member of these important
organizations which are pivotal to the continued vitality of the indigenous textile
industry. Government at all levels (especially the state and local governments) are
implored to pay attention to and support the weavers' organizations. Easy access to
grants or loans by the weavers' organizations as a body would be worthwhile,
because these organizations are unlikely to have all the financial resources required
for effective operation and to offer incentives to their members. With government
financial support added to the 'know-how' of the indigenous weaving and market-
ing egbe, the textile industry of Iseyin can grow even stronger.
Despite a few ups and downs of demand and the effects of inflation, the aso-
oke industry has survived and has come to stay. For a very long time to come the
strip-woven cloth weaving industry of Iseyin, which has demonstrated that it
operates best using indigenous technology and marketing techniques, will
remain unbeatable as a major supplier of aso-oke. As long as there are Yor-
ubas, aso-oke will remain a symbol of prestige, affluence and cultural pride, and
Iseyin will remain 'The Home of Aso-oke'.
Notes
1. Strip cloth is woven on the 'West African narrow-strip loom', defined by John Picton
as a horizontal double-heddle loom in which the warp is attached to a wooden sledge
weighed downby a heavy stone (Picton 1992: 20). The .strips in the Yoruba area are
usually about four inches wide with a warp length of 15 yards.
2. Interviews with weavers and traders were carried out in Iseyin in 1980 and 1992
(Wahab). Iseyin as a focus also offers the advantage that a series of field studies over
. the past 40 years provide us with basic data on the history of indigenous and external
influences on the weaving iridustry (DodwellI955; Bray 1968, 1969, 1974; Lamb and
Holmes 1980; Wahab 1980, 1992; Robinson 1982; Sanni 1989).
3. It was feared that such factories would drain away the cotton resources of the area
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY
,86 Indigenous Organizations and Development
. that were essential to the textile. industries in England, as well as compete for the
markets in West Africa (Bashir 1986: 90).
4. The exceptions are the new workshops which have been set up in towns such as
Ibadan by entrepreneurial weavers who practise open apprenticeship under
government-sponsored programmes (NISER 1990).
5. Thanks to LaRay Denzer of the Department of History, University of Ibadan, for
calling this to our attention.
6. 'Egbe,' according to Lloyd, is used to refer to craft guild organizations among the
Yoruba. In this chapter we are avoiding the term 'guild', which has been used in a
number of ways. Nadel (1942) uses guild to refer to craft organizations based on
kinship ties of extended family or lineage among the Nupe. Lloyd (1953: 36) equates
guilds with Yoruba craft organizations where the apprentice-journeyman relation-
ship is typical, Ben-Amos (1980: 10), describing the craftsmen who workfor the Oba
of Benin, uses the term for craft groups under the control of a ruler.
7. In this same decade it was estimated that 59 million square yards of imported cloth
were sold in a single year (195011) in the Western Region of Nigeria which
encompasses Yorubaland, In that same period, about 150 million square yards total
of cloth were imported into Nigeria as a whole (Galletti et.al 1956: 246-52).
8. Bray observed that 76 per cent of the entrepreneurial weavers at that time supplied
cotton yam to members of their own compound group alone (Bray 1968: 273).
9. Alhaji Shittu is referred to as the Aloga (Alaga) Aso Oke by Lamb and Holmes who
interviewed him in 1978. Alaga Aso Oke is the title given to the head weaver who
presides over a council of master weavers who have gained their position on the
council on the basis of seniority-Il.amb and Holmes, 1980: 29).
10. Bray identified these organizations as 'Egbe Ibadan' and 'Egbe Eko' (Bray, 1968:
276). The addition of ero(which translates as 'passenger' or 'traveller') underscores
their commitment to long-distance trade.
11. Unlike many Western artists, Yoruba weavers are 'often eager to share' their
innovation and designs with other weavers (Okuwa, 1989: 24).
12. The 'empty bowl' concept was proposed by early critics of colonial and Western
development agencies.
13. For an extended discussion of the early development of government-sponsored co-
operatives into the first decade of independence, consult Koll (1969).,
14. Documents on early attempts to establish broadloom weaving education in Iseyin are
found in 'File 372, v.l , Weaving-Oyo Province' at the Nigerian National Archives,
Ibadan.
15. See Koll (1969: 71) for a summary of co-operative types recognized by the
I Department of Co-operatives .
. 16. The Co-operative Department concentrated on initiating craft co-operatives which
built on indigenous crafts, but not weaving. It focused its efforts on leather workers,
goldsmiths, and calabash carvers with .the goal of providing art and crafts for
customers interested in the local culture (Koll, 1969: 78).
17. Additional weaving centres were established in the same year in Ikire, Ayedade, Oyo
and Ogbomosho (Wahab, 1980: 22).
References
Ben-Amos, P. (1980), The Art of Benin, London: Thames & Hudson.
Bray, I.M: (1968), 'The Organization of Traditional Weaving in Iseyin, Nigeria', Africa
38: 270-79 .
. Bray, I.M. (1969), 'The Economics of Traditional Cloth Production in Iseyin, Nigeria',
Economic Development & Cultural Change 17: 540-51.
,
f. Bray, I.M. (1974), 'The Craft Structure of a Traditional Yoruba Town', in The City in the
I,· Third World, D.L Dwyer (editor)., Macmillan, 142-58.
i Clarke, W.H. (1972), Travels and Explorations in Yorubaland 1854-1858, Ibadan:
Ibadan University Press.
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN IBRARY
The Importance of Indigenous Organizations 87
Cole, B. (1983), The Renaissance Artist at Work. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Crowder, M. (1962), A Short History of Nigeria, New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
Dodwell, C.B. (1955), 'Iseyin, the Town of Weavers', Nigeria No. 46: 118-39.
Eades, J.S. (1980), The Yoruba Today, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fadipe, N.A .. (1970), The Sociology of the Yoruba, Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
Faiola, T. (1991), 'The Yoruba Caravan System of the Nineteenth Century', International
Journal of African Historical Studies 24(1): 111-32.
Galletti, R., Baldwin, K.D.S. and Dina, 1.0. (1956), Nigerian Cocoa Farmers, Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Johnson, M. (1978), 'Technology, Competition and African Crafts', in The Imperial
. Impact: Studies, in the Economic 'History of Africa Cf'l.dIndia. Athlone Press.
Koll, M. (1969), Crafts and Cooperation in Western'/yigeria, .Bielefeld: Bertelsmann
Universitatsverlag. .'
Kriger, e. (1990), 'Textile Production in the Lower Niger Basin: New Evidence from the
1841 Niger Expedition Collection', Textile History 21(1): 31-56.
Lamb, V. and Holmes, J. (1980), Nigerian Weaving, Lagos: Shell Petroleum Develop-
ment Company of Nigeria.
Law, R. (1977), The Old Oyo Empire c.1600-c.1836. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lloyd, P. (1953), 'Craft Organization in Yoruba Towns', Africa 23: 30-40.
Nadel, S.P. (1942), A Black Byzantium: The Kingdom of Nupe i'l Nigeria, London:
Oxford University Press. .
Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) (1990), Report of World
BanklNiser Project on Education and Training for Skills and Income in the Urban
Informal Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Urban Informal Sector of Ibadan
City, Nigeria, Ibadan: NISER.
Ogunsanwo, AT. (1985), A Traditional Market in Modern Ibadan: A Case Study of Oje
Market. 1960-84, University of Ibadan, Unpublished BA essay.
O'Hear, A (1987), 'Craft Industries in Ilorin: Dependency or Independence?' African
Affairs, 505-21.
O'Hear, A (1990). 'The Introduction of Weft Float Motifs to Strip Weaving in Ilorin', in
West African Economic and Social History, D. Henige and T.e. McCaskie (eds).
Madison: African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, 175-88.
Okuwa, AI. (1989), 'The Socio-economic Organization of Aso-oke Trade in Oje
Market', BA Final Year Project, Anthropology, University of Ibadan.
Perani, Judith (1992), 'The Cloth Connection: Patrons and Producers of Hausa and Nupe
Prestige Strip-weave', History, Design, and Craft in West African Strip-woven Cloth,
Washington: National Museum of African Art, 95-112.
Picton, J. (1992), 'Tradition, Technology, and Lurex: Some Comments on Textile History
and Design in West Africa', History, Design, and Craft in West African Strip-woven'
Cloth, Washington: National Museum of African Art, 95-112.
Robinson, G.A. (1982), 'Cloth-weaving Technology in Yorubaland: Iseyin as a Case
Study', University of Ibadan, BA essay.
Sanni, S.O. (1989), 'The 'Aso-oke' Weaving Industry in Iseyin: A Comprehensive
Appraisal', The Polytechnic, Ibadan, thesis for Higher National Diploma in Business
\ . Administration.
Thornton, J. (1990), 'Precolonial African Industry and the Atlantic Trade, 1500-1800',
African Economic History 19: 1-19.
Wahab, W.B. (1980), 'Economic-base/growth of Iseyin-'The Home of "Aso-oke'"'.
The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Higher National Diploma.
Wass, B.M. (1979), 'Yoruba Dress in Five Generations of a Lagos Family', The Fabrics
of Culture, J.M. Cordwell and R.A. Schwarz, (eds), The Hague: Mouton.
Wolff, N.H. (1991), 'A Yoruba Woman's Search for Identity in Nigerian Contemporary
Society: An Anthropological Approach', Symposium on Africa and African Identity,
. African Studies Program, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY