Public Lecture: Costumes and kin: the (un)making of female togetherness in Accra’s zongos; Speaker: Ann Cassiman

Abstract:

A common practice in West-Africa, especially among women, is to sew matching outfits made from the same fabric to wear on large public occasions, as an expression of solidarity and unity, but also as a spectacle of cosmopolitanism and self-making. The larger and more visible the groups wearing these ‘uniforms’, the more grandiose and spectacular the celebration. In Accra’s zongos, the practice of doing yaayi (Hausa for ‘uniform’) has expanded to networks beyond the family, to include colleagues, associations, friends and neighbours. Doing yaayi now rocks in young women’s relentless efforts to shine and show off, sparking debates about social obligations, morality, and consumer culture. As a material manifestation and validation of extended relationships, yaayi functions not only as a technology of kinning in the zongos, but paradoxically also as a technology of matronage, exclusion, and shame for those with limited means. My paper follows seamstress apprentices preparing for their graduation. At the heart of doing yaayi is allying with others while outshining them, embodied in one’s individual style, finish and workmanship. 

Ann Cassiman is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Leuven, Belgium. Her ongoing research focuses on young women in Muslim migrant communities (zongos) in Accra (Ghana), and more in particular on themes of friendship, apprenticeship, kinship, strangerhood, in relation to love, intimacy and trickery. In her most recent collaborative project withphotographer Fibi Afloe, she explores women’s expectations and desires within marriage, delving into themes of self-making, love, femaleagency, and the everyday ethics of womanhood. This research has led to the exhibition “Kayanmata” which is currently on show in Accra. Her earlier research work on material culture and housing in Northern Ghana led to two book publications (the monograph Stirring Life: Women’s Paths and Places among the Kasena of Northern Ghana and the edited volume Architectures of Belonging: Inhabiting Worlds in Rural West-Africa) and two exhibitions (SONGO: Ritmes van wonen in the Afrikamuseum of Berg en Dal, the Netherlands; and Home Call: Ghanaianmigrants in Antwerp, in MAS, Antwerp). She is the academic coordinator of the Advanced Master program in Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies (CADES).

This lecture is open to the public.

For virtual participation via Zoom, please use the following link:

https://uni-freiburg.zoom-x.de/j/65403737334?pwd=LrD3qPiMOoZHda71EEapEFcgIe14ZJ.1

Meeting-ID: 654 0373 7334
Code: vy8g1K9g1