Kuba Textiles: The Dynamics of Creation, Style, and Meaning within the Kuba Kingdom

Kuba textiles are recognized for their variety of two-dimensional designs and decorative techniques, yet questions concerning the uses and meanings of these textiles for the Kuba have largely been ignored. Beyond aesthetic appreciation, most accounts have stressed the importance of these textiles as emblems of rank or as indicators of social prestige. But the social significance of Kuba textiles is more complex than these appraisals and analyses conclude. Research suggests that the meaning of these textiles for the Kuba emerges from the dynamics of their production and use. Kuba textiles exist not solely as aesthetic objects, but also as products of a socio-cultural framework that places a high value on the making of textiles. Kuba textile production is in sharp contrast to other areas of the world, where the use of special textiles is relegated to certain social strata and where exchange and recirculation of textiles dominates the social history of cloth. Instead, textile production among the Kuba requires the interdependent contributions of men and women. This complementarity of the sexes is revealed in textile production and ownership and is visually expressed in the most important context of use: the display of textiles at funerals and their subsequent use as burial goods. Field research included documenting the techniques of raffia cloth manufacture and fabrication of decorated skirts. The dynamics of apprenticeship was also studied. Extended interviews disclosed the varying corpus of patterns and designs retained by individual women and to a certain degree their historical depth. It was during these discussions that the contextual importance of funerals emerged as the incentive for textile production, display and dispersal. The Kuba concept of joint ownership of textiles was also made apparent. Kuba textile production persist to the present because decorated textiles are linked to ideas regarding social responsibility, ethnic identity, and religious beliefs.