Akwete (Igbo)
Akwete cloth takes its name from a town in Abia State, in the Ndoki area of south-eastern Nigeria. Its age is disputed. A community tradition holds that the craft is as old as the Igbo themselves, but that is a tradition, not a documented date. Historians have linked the development of its designs to outside influence, and one account places the key period in the mid-to-late 19th century, when Akwete weavers responded to demand from their Ijo neighbours in the Niger Delta with new techniques and innovative patterns.
The best-known story credits a woman named Dada Nwakata, who is said to have unravelled a Portuguese cloth and copied its weave structures. The historian Colleen Kriger, author of Cloth in West African History, treats the story as a stereotype, noting that it is unlikely any woman worked alone. We include it as folklore. What is better documented is the trade: in the 19th century Abia State was a centre of the palm oil and kernel trade, and the cloth travelled with it. It reached European museums in the 1880s and 1890s, and a 1963 exhibition at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. brought it wider attention.
Akwete weaving is traditionally women's work. Girls begin as soon as their arms are long enough to reach the loom, and the community describes weaving as a gift one is born with. Women use the upright frame loom, which allows a continuous warp, unlike many Nigerian traditions that rely on horizontal looms. Cloths are mostly cotton, and complex ones take weeks. A recent study notes that fewer women now practise the craft because of its technical demands.
Pattern types named in the sources include etirieti (plain, mostly stripes and squares), akpukpa (very vibrant), ahia (complex, with patterning governed by the number of heddles) and ogbanaonweya (intricate, used mostly within the Akwete community). Modern designs depict domestic animals, ritual objects and national emblems. The tortoise is read as a symbol of cunning and wisdom and was once used by members of the royal family.
Akwete cloths are worn in pairs, one around the waist and another under the arms, or as one wide cloth worn as a dress. Traditionally they appear at masquerades and at major occasions such as weddings, chieftaincy ceremonies and burials. Lighter cotton versions are worn casually.
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