By Elliot Siamonga - March 12, 2015
THE Africa woman head-wrap (dhuku) holds a distinctive position in the history of African dress both for its longevity and for its potent significations.
It endured the travail of colonialism and never passed out of fashion.
The dhuku represents far more than a piece of fabric wound around the head.
This distinct cloth head covering has been called variously ‘head rag’, ‘head-tie’, ‘head handkerchief’, ‘turban’, or ‘head-wrap’. The head-wrap usually completely covers the hair, being held in place by tying the ends into knots close to the skull. As a form of apparel in Zimbabwe, the head-wrap has been exclusive to women of African descent. The head-wrap originated in sub-Saharan Africa, and serves similar functions for both African and African-American women. In style, the African-American woman’s head-wrap exhibits the features of sub-Saharan aesthetics and worldview. In the United States, however, the head-wrap acquired a paradox of meaning not customary on the ancestral continent. During slavery, white overlords imposed its wear as a badge of enslavement! Later it evolved into the stereotype that whites held of the ‘Black Nammy’ servant.
The enslaved and their descendants, however, have regarded the head-wrap as a helmet of courage that evoked an image of true homeland – be that of ancient Africa or the ‘newer homeland’of America. The simple head rag worn by millions of enslaved women and their descendants has served as a uniform of communal identity; but at its most elaborate, the African American woman’s head-wrap has functioned as a ‘uniform of rebellion’ signifying absolute resistance to loss of self-definition. Tying a piece of cloth around the head is not specific to any one cultural group.
Men and women have worn and continue to wear some type of fabric head covering in many societies. What does appear to be culturally specific, however, is the way the fabric is worn.
In other words, the style in which the fabric is worn is the ultimate cultural marker.
To wrap her head, a European or white-American woman simply folds a square piece of fabric into a triangular shape and covers her hair by tying the fabric under her chin; or, less often, by tying it at the nape of the neck. In either case, the untied points of fabric are left to fall down over the back of the head. The Euro-American style results in a head covering which flattens against the head and encloses the face, and thus visually seems to pull the head down. The terms ‘scarf’ or ‘kerchief’ usually denote this type of head covering. Scarves are not particularly popular items of white-American women’s fashion today, but when they are worn, they consistently are arranged in the manner I just described above. By contrast, a woman of African ancestry folds the fabric into a rectilinear shape rather than into a triangle. The most significant difference between the Euro-American and Afro-centric manner of styling the cloth is that rather than tying the knot under her chin, the African American woman usually ties the knots somewhere on the crown of her head, either at the top or on the sides, often tucking the ends into the wrap.
Although the African-American woman sometimes ties the fabric at the nape of the neck, her form of styling always leaves her forehead and neck exposed; and, by leaving her face open, the head-wrap visually enhances the facial features.
The African head-wrap thus works as a regal coronet, drawing the onlooker’s gaze up, rather than down.
THE Africa woman head-wrap (dhuku) holds a distinctive position in the history of African dress both for its longevity and for its potent significations.
It endured the travail of colonialism and never passed out of fashion.
The dhuku represents far more than a piece of fabric wound around the head.
This distinct cloth head covering has been called variously ‘head rag’, ‘head-tie’, ‘head handkerchief’, ‘turban’, or ‘head-wrap’. The head-wrap usually completely covers the hair, being held in place by tying the ends into knots close to the skull. As a form of apparel in Zimbabwe, the head-wrap has been exclusive to women of African descent. The head-wrap originated in sub-Saharan Africa, and serves similar functions for both African and African-American women. In style, the African-American woman’s head-wrap exhibits the features of sub-Saharan aesthetics and worldview. In the United States, however, the head-wrap acquired a paradox of meaning not customary on the ancestral continent. During slavery, white overlords imposed its wear as a badge of enslavement! Later it evolved into the stereotype that whites held of the ‘Black Nammy’ servant.
The enslaved and their descendants, however, have regarded the head-wrap as a helmet of courage that evoked an image of true homeland – be that of ancient Africa or the ‘newer homeland’of America. The simple head rag worn by millions of enslaved women and their descendants has served as a uniform of communal identity; but at its most elaborate, the African American woman’s head-wrap has functioned as a ‘uniform of rebellion’ signifying absolute resistance to loss of self-definition. Tying a piece of cloth around the head is not specific to any one cultural group.
Men and women have worn and continue to wear some type of fabric head covering in many societies. What does appear to be culturally specific, however, is the way the fabric is worn.
In other words, the style in which the fabric is worn is the ultimate cultural marker.
To wrap her head, a European or white-American woman simply folds a square piece of fabric into a triangular shape and covers her hair by tying the fabric under her chin; or, less often, by tying it at the nape of the neck. In either case, the untied points of fabric are left to fall down over the back of the head. The Euro-American style results in a head covering which flattens against the head and encloses the face, and thus visually seems to pull the head down. The terms ‘scarf’ or ‘kerchief’ usually denote this type of head covering. Scarves are not particularly popular items of white-American women’s fashion today, but when they are worn, they consistently are arranged in the manner I just described above. By contrast, a woman of African ancestry folds the fabric into a rectilinear shape rather than into a triangle. The most significant difference between the Euro-American and Afro-centric manner of styling the cloth is that rather than tying the knot under her chin, the African American woman usually ties the knots somewhere on the crown of her head, either at the top or on the sides, often tucking the ends into the wrap.
Although the African-American woman sometimes ties the fabric at the nape of the neck, her form of styling always leaves her forehead and neck exposed; and, by leaving her face open, the head-wrap visually enhances the facial features.
The African head-wrap thus works as a regal coronet, drawing the onlooker’s gaze up, rather than down.
