Dress like a Zambian: making sense of nation and self through ethnic dress

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School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
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Date

2017

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Language

en

Pages

76

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Abstract

Zambian identity has been constructed in part out of the remains of the colonial era. Though its physical boundaries and positioning as political entity have been heavily marked by external intervention, since the nation’s independence in 1964, both political elites and regular citizens have contributed the development of the nation’s identity and culture. Through material cultural objects like ethnic dress, Zambians are continually engaging in efforts to delineate, communicate and perhaps process visually the essence of what it means to be a Zambian. Therefore, the hypothesis of this research is that ethnic dress can be viewed is as a vehicle through which Zambian people simultaneously perform and construct their ethno-national identity. With each ensemble, they reconstruct and promote the narrative/nationalistic myth of a primordial, innate collective culture. While anthropological research covering Zambian dress culture in general as well as the second-hand clothing trade, and modesty in dress have been written, this project focuses on ethnic dress and its role in nation buiding. I started the research by conducting a literary review to better understand the concept of ethnic dress identity and nationalism from a sociological perspective. Furthermore, the role of ethnic dress in Zambia during the time of independence was examined Additionally, I conducted an informal qualitative interview of 13 Zambians living in Finland and was a participant observer at a few of their community gatherings. I also interviewed 2 Zambian designers living and working in Zambia to understand their approach/perspective of designing clothing that is ‘Zambian’. The main findings of this research are as follows: Beyond its more obvious function of symbolising group membership, ethnic dress is a means of embodying the national collective cultural and promoting its authenticity In the case of Zambia (and perhaps nations like it) has served as a tool of reimaging the present by reproducing an imagined past. Furthermore, rather than being understood as a singular outfit, ethnic dress for Zambians refers more to a style, which is indicative generally of ‘African-ness. Therefore, the artistic portion of this research is a speculative exploration of creating a costume for my own ‘ethnic self’ as a Zambian. This thesis process and it’s findings have helped to provide a starting point for meaningfully engaging with my national culture and identity in my design practice.

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Supervisor

Niinimäki, Kirsi

Thesis advisor

Vänskä, Annamari

Keywords

ethnic dress, Zambia, identity, nationalisim, nation, nation-building, collective culture, design

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201711017488

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[master] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS