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Kente Cloth/Elite Ashanti/Sexism and the Pre-European Slave Trade
"KENTE: Not Just any old cloth"
"Kente cloth is deeply intertwined with the history of the Ashanti nation." The author points out that despite its humble beginnings " …Kente cloth, which was associated with Ashanti royalty, was made of silk during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries." The silk used to make the Kente Cloth was brought to "Ashanti Kingdoms" via the "trans-Saharan trade route". "This trade route which dated back to at least 300 BCE crossed some of the most barren and desolate land in the world. The dangers of this crossing, even when traders used caravans of camels, were such that any and all goods transported this way came with a hefty price tag." As you can see only the elites could afford silk Kente Cloth.
The author explains that, "Ashanti women purchased the silk brought by these caravans but Kente cloth was woven only by men, as woman’s menstrual cycles were thought to interfere with the production of the cloth."
Third strike on Kente Cloth is that it is intertwined with the slave trade. The author says, "In fact, the history of the Ashanti people, who lived on the West Coast of Africa, is strongly tied to the history of the slave trade."
As you can see, Kente Cloth is linked to elitism, sexism and the slave trade.
http://ultimatehistoryproject.com/kente-cloth-and-the-history-of-the-ashanti-people.html