| dc.description.abstract | The Historical Background of Textiles in Kenya
This study was undertaken in an attempt
to trace the history behind the introduction
of a commodity of Textiles in Kenya. The aim
was to establish the significance and the
validity of the past and to bring to the
attention, wherever possible, many facts about,
textile substitutes in form of traditional
dresses of various ethnic groups of Kenya. The
challenge was of probing the past so as to
understand and assess the reaction, ,of the
country as a whole, to an innovation like
textiles which was presented to the indigenous
people by the foreigners who visited the
country in its early history.
For the purpose of seeing a cross section
of the distribution of textiles into the
country a selection was made of seven ethnic
groups in Kenya, representing the areas from the
coast to the western and north eastern regions
of the country.
The study was divided .into nine chapters
starting with an introduction which mainly deals
with the early history of the coast in an
attempt to stress various activities taking
place as early as the 15th century while the
interior of the country being left unexplored
to as late as 1840.
Since textiles were introduced at the
coast, the Swahili people of the coast form
the basis of the second chapter and it marks
the starting point of the study. Detailed early history of the region is entered into
with an aim of emphasising, who the earliest
settlements the coast were, how they associated
with local inhabitants and what the results of
their interactions were.
The social and cultural conditions that
prevailed with the foreigners settling at the
coast as well as the trade and commerce which
flourished, became responsible for introduction
of textiles which through a system of caravan
trade found its way to the interior of the
country. This activity marked a change in the
history of the people of the interior who until
early 1800, were interacting only at local
levels.
The chapters on the ethnic groups are
based on, in order of their contacts) with the
coastal people. Thus the study moves from
the Kenya coast to the interior in stages
with the Giriyama people, who were the
immediate neighbours of the Swahili, forming
chapter four The Akamba people who were
heavily engaged in trade, as the middlemen,
between the people of the interior and the
coastal people form the basis for chapter five
The Maasai constitute the sixth chapter and
the Abaluyia and the Luo people constitute
the seventh and, eighth chapters respectively.
The north eastern section of the country is
looked at under the Somali group which makes
up for information in chapter nine.
All the above chapters are looked at
under headings such as:
(i) History of the people where stress
is laid on the origins of the
people, migratory movements and
circumstances under which they
settled into specific areas;
(ii) The people whereby traits' and
peculiarities of the people are
,lit.
looked at;
(iii) Clothing whereby traditional form
of dressing for men, women and
children is investigated through
comments made by various explorers
and missionaries, with particular
emphasis on their reaction to cloth
which they encountered under
different circumstances;
(iv) Trade whereby the earlier form of
trading is outlined and recent
trade in items of textiles is looked
into, with emphasis on the value attached to
textiles to the points of them becoming a
primitive form of currency in the barter trade.
The last section in each chapt.er is made
up of photographic plates of the traditional
items of dressing of the ethnic groups.
Chapter ten which is the final chapter
in the study is entitled "The impetus of change".
The chapter is made up of a summary of information
from chapters two to nine and lays emphasis on
how the commodity 'of textiles has been
responsible for changing patterns of everyday
economic activities in the traditional Kenyan
societies and how it has helped to establish a significant
interaction between different
ethnic groups. The chapter goes through the
early history of the British interest in Kenya
and the colonial era in Kenya whereby the
British attitude and policies towards textiles
and textile industry are outlined.
The import situation of the British
colony is traced and shows a diversity in
origins of various textile goods. The serious
competition which arose as a result, gave
way to the British demands for consumption of
only British textile goods.
The increasing demand, as seen from
statistical figures created a need for
locally produced raw materials which gave rise
to the local cotton growing and the first
phase of industrialization. The second phase
of development of the textile industry is
marked by the early days in independent Kenya
whereby the Government measures, distribution,
expansion and protection are emphasized.
The whole of chapter nine, which is the
concluding chapter, is devoted to emphasize .It,
the speed at which the textile goods, which
were a new innovation to the indigenous people,
have taken off towards its industrialization,
and local production and thus becoming a
vital factor in the economy of Kenya. | en |
