Maasai Design Grammar

MAASAI DESIGN GRAMMAR Anna Lewerth Program of Industrial Design, Lund University 2005/01/04 Project done in the course: Design in unfimiliar cultures

Summary This project was done partly in Masai Mara, a national reserve in Kenya. The home of extrordinary wildlife and the Maasai people. The Maasai are a proud and culturally strong people that today still lives very traditionally. But development is rapidly changing their society and that is affecting their way of life. I got fashinated by the colours, shapes and feelings in their lifes and started to investigate. How come we recognise a Maasai and what is essential in their cutural identity? What is really Maasai?

To put my new knowledge into practise I started to work with ideas for products. The result came to a Maasai inspired kanga (piece of textile worn as a skirt, dress, scarf etc) pattern. Since the Maasai women usually wears kangas similar to the ones sold all over Kenya, with patterns not associated with Maasai culture. With this my intention was to show how a ethnic identity can take new expressions and to create new items that inherits the qualitys of the culture. I hope that the Maasai people also in the future, no matter how they live, will keep their pride and joy over beeing Maasai. I believe that by expressing and visualizing cultural identities is a good thing that will help us to understand our world and it’s diversity. Development can be good and/or bad, depending on what is gained and what is lost. With rapid changes we must be even more careful to make sure that the good parts are preserved.

In Kenya, my project was mostly concentrated on gathering information and gaining understanding for this new environment. Back in Sweden I wanted to develop a Maasai design grammar. To make my findings visible I created a toolkit where I with simple symbols and short texts are trying to visualize a phenomena I find important for the aestethics of the Maasai.

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Table of content Intro

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Aim

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Goal

Senses, sounds, smells, tastes, time, tactile Symbols and communications Materials Creativity, inspiration and perception Pride and identity Arts

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Method

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The sketches made by my Maasai friends

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About development

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Design toolkit

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Background

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Product implementation

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5 6 6 7 8

Product goals Targetgroup The textile buisness in africa Pattern development Production Designs

41 41 41 42 42 44

A personal reflection

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Result Printing and dyeing practise

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Fieldstuddy and exhibition

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What is Masai Mara? What is Basecamp? What is Talek? Life and culutre of Maasai Culture in development

Imprint Exhibition

What is Maasai? Shape Colours Objects and home Clothing, looks and fashion

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16 16 16 18 18

Last words

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Thank you’s

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Sources

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Appendix

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Intro

Aim

This report is the documentation of a project done in the course Design in unfimiliar cultures during the autum of 2004 at the Division of Architecture and Development Studies, LTH. The project had both architecture and design students participating and was held in cooperation with the University of Nairobi, Basecampexplorer, the Museum of Nairobi and Lamu museum. My fieldstuddy was done during four weeks at Basecamp Masai Mara in Kenya. I was there together with Kajsa Nilsson (architecture), Laura Ross (architecture), Steve Gitonga (interior design, Nairobi) and Winnie Kaloki (product design, Nairobi). The other students did their fieldstuddy in Lamu island on the coast of Kenya.

To document the aspects of Maasai culture that are specific, important and central, so that these characteristics can be maintained in future product design, architecture and systems whilst allowing the Maasai people to develop and modernise without loosing the essence of the Maasai traditions.

Masai Mara is a national reserve on the border to Tanzania. The Maasai people dominate the population of the area and they live a traditional life on the savannah.

Goal To understand the Maasai cultural heritage and document it so it can be used as a source of inspiration and preservation for exploration and expansion. To collect enough knowledge that I can create a “design grammar” that speaks Maasai. For use in local productions, within Basecamp and also globally.

My project came to be about the aestethics of the Maasai culture. I got fashinated by the strong expressions and the rythm in their lives. Also since before I have hade thaughts about identity and how different subcultures, tribes and ethnic communities uses it, how it is communicated.

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Method By living in the environment and experiencing it. Trying to understand all aspects of Maasai life and culture by interacting with the people and the community of Talek region. Observing the everyday life of the native people that lives traditionally as well as with the more “modern” Maasai. Documenting objects, shapes, materials, arts and more to get a bank of inspiration and knowledge. Informal interviews with people within and outside Basecamp. Sketching exercise to grasp how colours and shapes are perceived.

About development The Maasai communities are in rapid changing as many other cultures has been before . By adapting to a modern life some traditions and the strong Maasai identity might get lost. Development is non stoppable and something we must allow. But by creating a way of preserving the core of Maasai in a new environment or in the rest of the world, the goal is to keep the pride and aesthetics of the Maasai. The word “Maasai” is a positive one today and hopefully still in the future.

Background What is Masai Mara? Masai Mara national reserve is a protected wildlife reserve in the south of Kenya on the border to Tanzania where it’s continuing into Serengeti. Masai Mara is on of the most animal populated areas in the country and the wildlife brings many tourists to the camps around. As the name tells you, Mara is a part of Maasai land where the Maasai people have lived traditionally for thousands of years and still are. The people lives from cattle and has their settlements just outside the reserve area. The Masai used to be nomads moving around their cattle over the savanna. Due to govermental division of land and the national park borders the Maasai are now bound to live in a more permanent settlement.

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What is Basecamp? Basecamp Masai Mara is a Norwegian owned ecological camp with the parole of “leaving the smallest footprints”. Their aim is that if they will shut the camp today, in 6 months no trace that it has been there can bee seen. But not only does BC carefully deal with nature but also with the local community. BC is involved in many projects like the Cheetah project, Reforestation and the Arts and Craft centre. The camp has fifteen tents wich can support about 30 guests at a time. BC tries to do everything with concern and thoughtfulness. There is no flush toilets, no burning of wood, and waste is sorted and taken care of. The small amount of electricity comes from solar panels and the shower water is heated with the daily sunshine.

Basecamp does not ony take the nature into consideration, but they also want to contribute to the whole environment around them, to the local Maasai community. Most of the staff working at BC are Maasai.

What is Talek? Talek is a small village with about 30 buildings just 20 minutes by foot from Basecamp. The “centre” has several small shops where you can buy for example sugar, water, blankets, beads, sodas and soap. There’s some restaurant where you can get chai, chapatti and grilled meat. Two of the buildings are bars, the Country club and the Honey moon suite, the latter also known as the suicide bar when its the only building in town that has two floors. These two bars, together with a couple of other small cafés that has a pool table, are the only places that provide the people in Talek with any kind of day and night activities. Every Thursday is market day, a day for gathering for all people in and around Talek. The things sold there are basically the same week after week. That is pots and pans, cups and plates, beads, shells, string, and other parts for jewelry making, and groceries of different kind. The market is in the middle of Talek, in a totally open space without any protection against wind or sun. The outside area in and around Talek, is very dry and except for the area just around the River route, there are very few trees. This results in a landscape without

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any outside areas for shade. The few trees now growing there are mostly Acacias, planted by Base Camp. Talek has a school where children can get educated up to class 8. There is also a small and well visited clinic and a christian church. The town cosists of concrete buildings in basically two “streets”. When the wind is blowing sand and dust whirl around with the garbige in the open spaces. Donkeys are strawling around eating what they can.

Life and culture of the Maasai The Maasai are a nomadic people that originally migrated to Kenya and Tanzania from what today is Sudan. In many areas the Maasai still lives very traditional and have stayed outside the mainstream development in Kenya. This means that they to a great extend live by their own rules and regulations, and still use most of the old ceremonies. In this area there are about four Maasai clans. All the people of a clan are considered as family. The Maasai are a herding people that has cows, sheeps and goats. The lifestock is the single most important thing to the Maasai, that believes that God gave them all the cattle. The Maasai community is strongly based on agegroups. Wich agegroup you belong to is defined by the time of the circumsicion or marrige. In a agegroup they see eachothers as brothers and sisters. There is a great respect for the elderly in the

community and children can be reprimanded by any older person, not only his/hers biological parents. The elderly are the ones that sorts conflics and gives advices to the other members of the clan. Each stage of life is decided by the promotion of successive generations to new positions of responsibility. The chief autocrat of the entire community is the ‘Laibon’, who decides when the time is right for the tribe’s age group rituals where each generation is elevated to a new level of seniority. Each level is characterized by a name, the youngest and fittest of a generation and the most elite warriors are known as IL Moran. A Maasai man usually has more than one wife and many children. This is partly a practical issue, he needs many wifes and children to take care of the cattle. The richer the man is, the more wives. This is often seen upon as discrimination of the women by us, the people from the western world. But among the older women and the women that hasn’t been to school, this is seen as a good thing. The Maasai family ilves in small settlements fenced from the dangerous wildlife, a manyatta. Inside the fence they build their houses from sticks and cowdung. It’s the women that are responsible for the building and reparing of the dwelling. The houses are a simple structure, with normaly two large bed-areas, a fireplace in the middle and a place for the young goats and sheeps to sleep. The cows spends the night protected from wildlife inside the fenced compound.

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Becoming and adultas a Maasai is different depending on your sex. As a boy you first go through circumsicion when you are about 10 years old, that leads you into the years of warriorhood. As a warrior, a moran, you will live close to the other warriors and their duty is to protect their community from for example a hungry lion. They move away from their families, to a small village of their own. This village is what is usually called a Manyatta, but nowadays all houses and clusters of houses, bummers, are called Manyattas. After up to eight years the warriors go through a cermonie where the boys are supposed to kill birds to decorate a crown worn during the ritual, and then together kill a male lion. This cermonie puts an end to their warriorhood and welcome them as elders of the community. They will now marry and start a family. The girls are usually circumsiced in their early teens and then married away to a man her family has choosen. She will go to live with her husband in his compund and that will be her new family. The women are responsible for bringing up the children, taking care of the house, preparing food, milking the cows and collecting firewood. The men looks after the cattle out on the savvanna. The Maasai have a good reputation as a proud and beautiful people. With heir beautiful beaded jewellery and bright coloured clothes they stands out from their harsh envronment. When the british colonisateurs came to Kenyas inner parts they where sometimes intimidated by the Maasai warriors and

brought a reputation of Maasai being ferce and hostile fighters. But this reputation was very exhadurated and is today not so common.

Culture in development The Maasai community has long been rather protected and isolated from the development in Kenya and of western influences. And the very strong group identity based on their rigid family and ageset structure has even more helped them to keep their cultural pride. But now things are starting to change due to two big factors, the govermental division of land and the increasing education. The division of land has led to a less nomadic lifestyle and limited resources of wood and graze. The freedom is decreased and nature suffers from beeing overused in areas where many Maasai now lives permanently. Education brings in new attitudes and values to the Maasai society. The children that has been to school speaks english and can communicate with foreign people, they can read and by that get information. New doors are opened and knowledge is gained. Also some bad traditions are questioned by the more educated young generation, for example female circumsicion. Still many girls are though taken out of school in early years to be circumsiced and married away. Every year thousands of tourists enter the area and that also brings in new impressions and meetings. By education and knowledge the Maasai can hopefully make a living in a envoronment that has changed and

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is not longer allowing their old lifestyle.

A personal reflection

Many Maasai has been forced to move to cities like Nairobi and Mombasa to work as guardsmen, to be able to support their families back home.

I’m not a Maasai. I’m not an expert on their culture. This is no attempt to claim my knowledge as “the right way”. In fact, I’m just an observer of this extraordinary culture and I have had the benefit to be welcomed as a friend. I have been trying to understand the Maasai way of life and by that getting a understanding for the whole community that is such a strong organisation. My work is not scientifically correct, nor complete in all aspects. But I do believe that I have gained lots of new knowledge that I could only have got right there on spot. I’m sure that persons before me have studied the aesthetic expressions of the Maasai. And reports have been written before. The ones I heard about are sadly enough not considered by the Maasai to tell the exact truth. My understanding and inspiration has gained so much thanks to my new Maasai friends.

Among a lot of other things changing in the culture the younger men speaks about marring for love, and only have one wife. The changes are both physical and non-physical. Old believes and values are no longer the only ones. It’s clearly visible that the younger generations will in some way choose to adapt to the new influences. But even if they do, certain things will still be the same. And the Maasai are generally happy and content by their way of living.

Trading mobile phone numbers

Many times during my fieldstudy in Kenya I just felt like I didn’t want to do anything at all to this people. I didn’t want to affect them with my thinking, my western ideas. They seemed so happy, so proud, and so content. Why should we come all the way from Sweden to improve their situation or to design for their environment? But then we realised that the Maasai community is in rapid change now. The modern development is getting reality. And in the end, this people must survive and move on as a culture. Then who are we to say that they must not develop? Maybe our impact then is more about to steer the development in a good direction and to provide a way of keeping their genuine pride even in the future. Also, the fact that product consumption and

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production on a local level leads to improved standards simply by providing the people and region with money is of significance. The empowering of women is an important issue in these parts of the world. “After a deep reflection on my people and culture, I have painfully come to accept that the Maasai must change to protect themselves, if not their culture. They must adapt to the realities of the modern world and become part of it for the sake of their own survival. It is better to meet an enemy out in the open and to be prepared for him than for him to come upon you at home unawares. The Maasai do not yet have all the weapons necessary to confront the modern world. They must have education, land and resources to enable them to fit into a money economy.” Teplit Ole Saitoti. Maasai, 1993, Harry N Abrams Inc, New York.

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Fieldstuddy and exhibition During our time at Basecamp we have had the great opportunity to meet many fantastic new friends. They have warmly greeted us into their lives and they have been teaching us about their culture. When we first came to Basecamp we got taken around the camp, the village and in traditional Maasai houses. During our first week Mr Pido from the design school in Nairobi was there as a supervisor and resource. In the beginning my interest was much in the Arts and Craft centre that is run by Basecamp and Friends of Conservation. It’s a training centre where mammas make beaded products to be sold in the camp-shop and abroad. The goal with the A&C is to empower women in the community, to keep the good craftsmanship knowledge and to market a high quality brand of unique Maasai products. Piers is the man working in the training centre with the Maasai women. Every day, except for Thursdays and Sundays, mammas comes from the local villages to work. My main interest area was at a first stage this centre and the products produced there. I spent many hours watching the daily work and also learning how the items were made. I got lots of inspiration, thoughts and ideas and could not help to get caught by all beautiful jewellery that the mammas are wearing. As a group, the mammas are very strong compared to the individual Maasai woman that doesn’t have the best hierarcic position. By giving the women a chance to earn some money,

they get a bit better status and can help to support the family financially. And from what we understood the reactions among the Maasai community was positive. Piers has many orders to execute and over hundred mammas on line to be taken into the project. His problem is that he has no time to train them all since the work needs lots of supervision and quality control. The women are between the ages of 15-80. And no young girls will be accepted since they should not considering dropping school to earn money instead. I had lots of input and ideas but felt that I had a hard time making them come together in a project. I didn’t see the connection, the goal or the aim. I felt that my project was undefined and drifting. Meanwhile I tried to gain as much information about the Maasai culture as possible. Maria Nyström came as a supervisor and she helped me to see the theme in my project: What is Maasai? A very wide and interesting goal was defined. And from there I could fill my gaps of knowledge and start to define the other parts of the project. By knowing the Maasai guides working in the camp we have got many rare and special opportunities to experience the Maasai life. We got invited to a Maasai wedding, we have been greeted home to their families on tea, we have watched them play soccer and we have been sleeping in a Maasai house for one night. All these experiences have helped us to understand the new culture.

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Imprint We were curious about how the Maasai people and mostly the women would react if we took a commonly used kanga and transformed it into something different. We saw the textile as a nice raw material for many applications while they saw it as just a piece of clothing. Me and Laura made ourselves some very basic bags. The specific textile is one of the most used ones in Talek region and many mamas wear them. We made the bags by hand and by a old-fashioned sewing machine. We wore the bags daily for about 2 weeks. The reactions were all positive and even though the kanga had transformed to something different, was it still highly recognisable. Many where surprised that we had made them ourselves. And everybody liked them. Also the fact that the pattern was so familiar seemed to invite otherwise shy persons to take contact and start communicating. We made one bag a bit “extra Maasai” by adding a row of beads and jingles. This was also highly appreciated. Who knows, maybe some mamas have adapted our bag idea by now...

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Exhibition The exhibition was held in Talek on a Sunday between 2 pm and 5 pm. To make the exhibition was very different from home. Our material had to be made by hand and our papers and the textile was sent from Nairobi one week earlier. Our exhibition location was between two houses just in the middle of town. A place where there’s some grass and a bit protected from the wind. We all wanted to create discussions and to get more information from the local people so we formed our exhibition from that. But also we tried to in an easy way to explain what we had been doing during our four weeks. We had put up posters a week before to announce the exhibition and specially invited the Senior Warden and the Counsillor of the district. The exhibition was a success, many people passed by and talked to us and we got positive response. My contribution to the exhibition consisted of three parts. One poster that shortly explained my goal with the project and pointed out some reflections of what I think is considered as Maasai. And one poster where I wanted to create a discussion and to learn more from the Maasai about how they perceive themselves. The poster said; “Find the Maasai!” and below I had painted 36 small figures dressed and equipped with different attributes. Many of them with Maasai connected things but maybe for example together with a modern t-shirt. My aim was to create a dialogue with the visitors about what they think is Maasai and in wich order they found the figures they considered as Maasai. Many good things came up

during the day but they were sometimes a bit confused by the poster. They first thought that I had an answer to the question and that I wanted to learn them something. I had to explain to them that I was the one wanting to learn from them and that no answer was right or wrong. The obvious Maasai almost everyone pointed out was the fully equiped Maasai in the middle. Not suprisingly they all noticed him fast and explained his identity in the traditional way of dressing with schuckas, beadworks, carrying the rungu and a spear and having earloops. A a bit more suprising figure to be certain Maasai was the modern dressed person with just earloops indicating his tribe identity. But many saw him instantly as a more modern Maasai even though that the new more modern generation seldom has earloops. Both men and women identified the male traditional Maasai faster and with more security than the female one. Maybe due to that the coluors I chose to dress the female figure reessembled more with a Tanzanian Maasai woman or because of the location on the poster. One man gave me a very clear answer on who was Maasai on the poster. “It’s him (pointing at the figure with the cow) because a Maasai has cows, if he has no cows he is no Maasai even if he wears all traditional items”. Interesting dicussions arised with the visitors the whole time. Is this a Maasai? The person is wearing “normal” clothes but many beaded bracelets. Yes, they thought he could be a

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Maasai but not necesarily since the beadworks are often sold to tourists and others so many people wears them even they arn’t Maasai. We discussed the the possibility to spot a Maasi just because of his length and physical apperance. How time is different in Maasailand. That a white person never can be considered a Maasai. And ther was lots of laughter at some of the caracters on my poster, the figure in cowboy hat, the superman, the Maasai dressed figure with a big hair. The personal colour-coding, how you recognise a friend by the pattern and colours of his schucka became very evident when a guide at basecamp directly spotted his friend Fred on my poster. The figure was dressed in a chrecked schucka in red and blue similar to the one Fred almost always uses. My last contribution for the exhibition was a “buffetcage” I made together with Winnie. The dinner buffet at Basecamp needed a facelift. Me and Winnie wanted to make a gift for the camp as well as trying a bit of our own research in practice. The salad and cakes of the buffet had net-cages protecting them from flies, birds and monkeys. A very good thing since the food is exposed in the environment for an hour or two during dinner. But the cages looked bad, heavy, temporary and stiff. We wanted to do something more Maasai to create a better atmosphere in the dining area. We used sticks collected and bent while still fresh. We covered and decorated the joints with waste leather from the Arts and Craft centre at Basecamp. (All this with excellent help from the carpenters

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at Basecamp). The inspiration came from how the sticks are put together with sisal in the Maasai houses. The net was assembled carefully from the inside not covering the sticks and joints. And at last we decorated the front with beads and jingles. The shape of the cage is now also more Maasai and natural then the previous bulky and square ones. The food is safe from bugs and birds and it’s easy to just fold the front part up by lifting the front stick. The cage was used and shown during our exhibition. It had good response and many persons seemed to like it (even though the candy inside might have been more appealing for that moment). Basecamp was very enthusiastic and happy about their present.

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What is Maasai? I have been trying to look at all aestetical aspects in the Maasai culture. I have tried to structure my thoughts into categories as follows. It’s hard to explain a feeling or emotional aspect of a culture in words. In the end have I gathered a “what is Masai and what is not Maasai tollbox” where I have tried to summarize my research with simple schematic pictures.

Shapes Visually, triangles are mostly common as a geometric figure in beadworks. Many different patterns can easily be built with various sizes of triangles. Also rows and stripes are common, by itselves or inbetween other shapes. Probably the big amount of triangles is due to the fact that they are easily done with the commonly used beading techniques. Triangles are also seen in other shapes besides patterns of beads, for example in warrior belts and long earrings. Round jingles that moves and vibrates are creativly used upon all sorts of jewellery and clothing. The jewellery are often big, noticable, delicate, free hanging and from a western point of wiev pretty unpractical. Organic and natural shapes are appreciated. The house and many objects that surround the Maasai are collected from nature and have an amount of individuality and imperfection. The slightly round corners of the Maasai house have no other meaning that that it’s created when they plaster the walls with the cow dung.

Colours First colour to think of when speaking about the Maasai is red. Red is the colour of the Maasai, and the colour of the soil. The earth provides the Maasai with life and red is a highly positive colour. The colour is very distinctive and seen from a far distance. Even the wildlife knows a Maasai person from another based on the colour of his clothing. But there are some regional differences in preferred colour also. For example, in Tanzania the Maasai prefers blue and the women

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often wear blue and yellow kanga while in the Mara they wear red to a bigger extent. The story about why the Maasai choose red as their colour comes from a time when the tribes in Africa were fighting viciously. The Maasai people where many and from many different sub-tribes and regions so it was hard for them to distinguish a Maasai friend from the enemy. This resulted in Maasai killed other Maasai. So as a prevention they agreed to all dress in ochre dyed skins wich would help them to recognise their “brothers” from a far distance. Male shuckas are mostly red with squares or stripes in blue, black or orange. The female schuckas, or kangas are a bit more diversed. Women usually wears many different kangas in layers wich creates a colourful happy apperance. The kangas are mostly in red, white, black, orange and blue with patterns surely wide spread all over Africa. They don’t feel particularly Maasai. But on the other hand, are they so commonly used and in such colours that it feels genuine and acctually Maasai. The viriety of patterns seems limited and not in development. Other kangas and clothes like skirts are also additionally used with the keyword of bright and happy colours. The red ochra has an important role in the Maasai culture. It’s still used in rituals and cermonies and also as a pigment for dyeing leather. Affection for colours associated with home, earth, nature and security is dominating. In beadwork the colours are many and happily combined. The colour fields are rarely large and divided by contrast colours. The Maasai hardly ever

puts similar colours next to eachother. The fields of colour must always be divided by a darker or brighter field. ”Mt. Kenya of the prayers is the beautiful Ol Donyio Keri, for the white glaciers on the mountain contrast with dark valleys, forming one sacred mountain. By celebrating the pattern keri, the pattern of contrast, the mountain affirms differences in families, groups and societies. But the pattern keri comprises an order, it is the beautiful order of contrast, of differences. The leopard is also characterized by the pattern keri ; its bright yellow color conflicts with black, a darkness admitting no brightness. But the pattern narok of the dark blue beads is set in fine strands of white; between the white beads are red ones, for in order to see the dark, the eye needs the contrasting brightness. This is how colors “catch the eye,” as is said in Maa. Peace is known even in war. Bright beads shine among the dark and beauty in ugliness, order in disorder. So is peace desired in conflict.” S. Somjee, Color, song and meaning among the Maasai, 1998 Colours of cattle:

red, black, white, and yellow cattle This reflects the colour of beadwork the Maasai use.

The colour of God:

Black, blue, Red,

Nature of Gods mood: Angry – Red Happy (good side) – Black/blue Mitigative side – white

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Colours are used in the community to define wich area of Maasai land that you come from. Different clans have different preferences and fashion codes. Also the definition of agegroups can partly be red into the colours of a pattern in a bracelet. For Maasai people our definition of a dark room is strange. They are used to a souroundingg with a very limited amount of light at night and in the house and therefore they seem to apprehend light and dark in a different way from us. Also, the colour black and the darkness have no negative meaning as it has in the western world. On the question of why he liked black as his favourite colour, my Maasai friend Fred told me laughing that “black is the colour of human beeings”. Shadows in Maasai land are harsh and clear. Shadows under a accacia tree gives shade from the burning sun. A place to rest.

Objects and Home The Maasai used to be a nomadic people moving their cattle where the savanna was green. Their belongings are few. Central is still their traditional jewellery (sometimes with a more modern function, as for example a key ring) spears, knifes, rungus, schuckas, sandals, skins, pots, calebasses and stools. The maasai people seems free from our will of possessing lots of objects. Their home is a place for shelter, food and sleep. The house is built from

natural materials and contains the most necessitive things, a place to sleep and fire. In a ergonomic wiev, the house is a disaster. Dark, smoky, low roof and other health issues. But for the maasai the house is security and comfort. A contrast to the great spacy savanna is to hide inside the soft brown walls of the hut. Aesthetically the Maasai are very concerned about their own appearance and the few belongings that they carry around. But when it comes to the housing, the close surroundings and some home equipment, it seems like the aesthetic values are missing. There’s like an aesthetic black hole in the culture. This probably due to the fact that Maasai are nomads and only the most important belongings could be brought when moving. It was simply no use in bothering too much about the appearance of the spot or item that they would have to leave in a short time. To be able to wear the identity strengthening jewellery has a practical issue. It is something you always carry where ever you go. Compared to our urban society where many people puts their identity in far more bulky products in their home. Here we sometimes measure ourselves and identifies who we are by many products put in our closest environment.

Clothing, looks and fashion With visible jewellery and a casually hanging schucka, that is how you often se the maasai. On their feets, sandals made from old tires. The sandals are comfortable and never wearing out. The heads of Maasai are shaved (except for warriors and

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uncircumcised girls), revealing a for me new way of idintification, you recognise someone from a distance based on the shape of the head. Earloops is still common among the older generation and women. But in the younger generation that has been to school the extension of skin in the lower ears is seen as a old tradition that has run out of fashion. The Maasai are tall, slim and proud. The appearances of their bodies are gracious and athletic. When the children are about five years old, they get one front tooth from their lower jaw removed. This is a Maasai mark that will work as an identification if you sooner in life moves away from the Maasai community. Jewelley not only adorns the body, it also reveals the philosophy by which people live their lives. Among the Maasai of Kenya, ornaments define individuals as male, female, adult, child or spiritual leader. Ornaments also define communities as Kisonko from Loitokitok, Ilolokolani from Kajiado and Illkeekonyoki from Ngong – Maasai ornaments embody their sense of esthetics (anomalous duality, the coexistence of opposites in complementary pair s) while their colour grammer revolves around Enkai (God) who has two contrasting aspects. Beaded ornaments often define time since they are closely related to age sets and progression from childhood, circumcision, warriorhood and becoming senior adults. Unlike the general misconception (that maasai have their feet stuck in cattle complex)

every age set and individual tries to make a fashion statement. They are very concerned about their looks. And fashion rules. They are very concerned about the latest “trends” and like to adapt to them. The speed of copying one new trend is very rapid and they are curious about new jewellery and clothing seen in the area. But Maasai fashion is not only a matter of obsession over their look but also a very clear way of communication. The way you wear your schucka or the colours of it reveals where you are from. For example, the Keekonyokei wears more chequered shuckas in deeper red and blue colours of wich length covers their knees. While the Purko people usually likes more clear red colours and wears their schuckas so they end higher up on their thighs. It’s not unusual that the Keeknonyokei teasingly says that the Purko is revealing too much skin. The Keekonyokei wears their wide beaded necklaces tight around their necks while the Purko wears the same kind of necklace loosely hanging on their chest. The colours appearing in their jewellery are also a way of telling where you are from. The LLoitai people use for example much more white than groups from other regions. Preferences in patterns are also visible; the Purko uses more triangular patterns while the Keekonyokei uses more rectangular patterns with big buttons (a hot trend in the Keekonyokei region). And as a final example of fashion codes, the Purko often wears many thick bracelets covering almost their entire lower arms and calf-bands in two different colours around their calfs. But the Keekonyokei wears thinner and not as many

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Different jewellery commonly worn by the Maasai around Talek.

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Different jewellery commonly worn by the Maasai around Talek.

Fashion

Purko

Keekonyokie

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bracelets, bands around their wrists and sometimes a tight bracelet around their upper arm. The Maasai use some special outfits for ceremonies. Skins from cows, goats and sheep are used for special occasions nowadays since they in their everyday life use schuckas made of textile. For weddings the bride is dressed in sheepskins beautifully decorated with beads. The Maasai outfit goes together in a kit; you can’t see a Maasai with only one necklace. You must wear all of them at the same time, it’s all or nothing. Urban living Maasai people that doesn’t dress traditionally likes to wear at least a beaded bracelet to show that they are Maasai. They are still proud and very strong in their cultural identity.

Senses, sounds, smells, tastes, time, tactile Maasai are a happy, proud people. We where always greeted with warmth and joy. And they spread a feeling of calm and tranquillity. They are curious in a non apposing way and they are open and honest. We felt welcome and secure in their presence. The sweet and soothing taste of chai (African tea, tealeaves boiled with water, milk and sugar) came to be one strongly Maasai connected taste. Its custom that who ever visits your home in Maasai land must be offered something to drink, preferably chai. Chai is drunk at all times. The food for a Maasai consists a lot of milk and meat. The Maasai prefer to eat

simple food from their own livestock or as natural as it can be. They don’t like to buy groceries that has been processed to much since they are aware of that those products commonly contain other substances added in the process. Whenever a Maasai is around you hear the evident sound of jingles. It’s a soft, crisp happy and random sound. Imagine how irritated many persons would be here in Sweden if you had jingles attached to your clothes that made noise from all small movements. Here where pretty harsh sounds from traffic are almost always present we get disturbed easily when we expect it to be quiet. In Mara, the sounds from the jingles are welcome, it jingles everywhere and I learned to love the sound. The rhythm in the language, Maa, is vital, playful, fast and friendly. The words comes roling out in a vivid stream. The Maasai songs are very characteristic. High tones combined with lower base accompaniment, the contrast between high and low, dark and bright. The tones and melodies are strongly rythmical, repetative, capturing, full of joy and power. When a conversation is held between two Maasai that are on a larger distance from eachother, they dont speak up in volume but in an almost not noticable higher tone. The comforting smell for a Maasai is a combination of smoke and cattle. I will always remember the dusts of sweet cow-fur and fire that randomly caught my nose when out walking. Or the sicky tear producing air

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inside the house. And that particular smell was also something I got used to and started to like. Where there’s fire and cattle, you are safe and warm. Time is slow in Maasai land. No exact appointments are set. No one minds to wait for a bit. The pace is slow and to walk in Maasai land takes far longer time than to walk the streets of Malmö. Mornings are early, and when sun sets the day is over. I lost my track of time, dates and stress after a few days in Mara.

symbol with the moon because it was horizontally directed and not vertical as we in Europe are used to. But then, when looking up one night it all made perfect sense, the moon seen from middle Africa is “lying” down. Cow-branding to keep track of the cattle is a visually strong way of communicating. The cows, sheep’s and goats gets different brands when they are babies or grown up animals.

Materials Symbols and communication The Maasai people have a long tradition of living and The Maasai beadwork carries messages, from where you are and to wich age group you belong. The patterns and colours in a bracelet can be used to identify to wich age set you are circumcises or married into. As a young child you get your first beaded jewellery and by age you collect them further. Nowadays, also political messages can be found in for example bracelets inheriting the colours of Kenya’s flag and also the preferred party. The ones who sets the looks of and age group beadwork are the women, often a group of girlfriends that makes the bracelets as admiring gifts to their warriors. The symbol of the moon is commonly used in jewellery. As jingles in earrings or necklaces. Or as a bigger decorative symbol in a warriors headdecoration. For me, at first I didn’t connect the

using nature in a sustainable way. (Although, the new division of land forces the Maasai to stay on one location with over usage of the nature as an outcome) Still today, many vital items in Maasai life are products from nature taken care of by trained hand to get wished feature. The time consuming maintenance of the manyatta, the patience demanding beadworks, dyeing of skins… Maasai are used to work with their hands with organic, natural “warm” materials. The fabrics in their clothes are cotton and wool. Other materials used: wood, horn, soil, calabashes, skins… Since the introduction of new materials like plastic, people have become good in reusing these waste resources. The amount of invention and creativity is high. Sandals made from old car tires are commonly used here and available everywhere. Small plastic parts made from “garbage” in jewellery are more rule

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than exception. In our world, the world plastic has a bit of negative sense. Like “It feels plastic” meaning that something feels less genuine and has low quality. This negative meaning is not evident in

or rectangle, 7. to write their full name, (8. to tell me about their favourite jewellery and whay it was the best one).

Maasai land.

Generally my impression of the sketching exercise is that it makes a big difference weather you have been to school or not. Even though the education dosn’t provide alot of art teaching, the pupils gets familiar with pens and how to use them. The women that had not been through school all drew very simple line drawings comparable with a young child in Europe. They also had a bit harder time to understand the assignment and to reflect on what they where doing. While the persons that has been to school generally has a better perspective understanding and felt more free and comfortable with using the coloured pencils.

Creativity, inspiration and perception The Maasai are creative and full of inventions. When one has a new thing the rest in the community are not slow to copy. They use what they can find and have a different way of putting value into things than we do. Central and most important is the nature and how it’s providing the people with life. To know the savanna is a matter of surviving and things from nature are seen as good and pure. I made a small sketching exercise with 8 persons. 4 guides working at camp (Fred, Dee, Amos and Young Moses) and 4 women of wich one works in cam and the others are local mammas (Rebecca, Normajoli, Nashiluni and Narikunkera). I wanted to see how they perceived important things around them, how they reflected on colours and shapes and also if there where any differences between the sexes and those who had been to school and those who had not. The exercise was received with laughter and enthusiasm. The task was: 1. to choose their favourite colours and then select one of them and tell me why it was the favourite one, 2. to draw a cow, 3. to draw a manyatta (Maasai house/houses), 4. to draw a Maasai, 5. to draw their favourite wildlife, 6. to choose wich shape they liked best: triangle, circle

The men and women chose to draw some things differently. The men drew bulls, warriors and dangerous wildlife while the women drew female figures, cows and friendly wildlife such as impala and tortoise. But some things where common for the both groups. They all reflected and associated closely to nature and the Maasai way of life. Many of them where very detailed in describing the dwelling and manyatta structure. The round fenced living area seems very symbolic and appreciated although it’s less used now than it was before.

Pride and identity The Maasai inherits a special pride and presence that is hard to gasp. Never have I met a people before with such strong integrity and awareness. The way the

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Maasai wears their schuckas is not a thing you can copy. No one would question why a Maasai wore his schucka, it’s just so inevitable. Wishful for the future Maasai if the development leads him or her into a situation and environment less traditional is anyhow to keep that special way of walking and existing with their head high. For the Maasai it’s all about the community, about the group, while we in the “modern” world are more individualists. Identity within the Maasai is more connected to the community of wich you belong. For whom do they want to show their Maasai identity? It’s only people belonging to the Maasi that can read the codes and fashion worn by other Maasai. For an observer it’s difficult to distinguish what special pattern that identifyes a certain agegroup. This particular information is meant for persons within the community. But it seems that the Maasai also are keen on showing their group identity to others, people that may not understand the differentiations between agesets and areas. For “us” it’s enough to identify the Maasai as Maasai with no further details. A traditionally dressed Maasai is easy to define as a Maasai even in a compleatly different environment like for example Shela beach on Lamu island where a group of Maasai are working as askaris (guards). It was obvious that they where Maasai even though they where on the beach and Maasai are usually known as a people that dosn’t like the sea. But then, what about the modernlife adapting Maasai with no physical traditional attributes, (no schuckas, no jewellery...) who can tell that he/she is Maasai? And more intresting, is it that

important for them to be able to show their Maasai pride and tribe belonging? To who do they want to show it? To other tribes, to tourists? I asked under a diskussion with Moses Ole Nkaru, an intern at UNHabitat Nairobi, what was the best and the worst part of the Maasai culture. What values are most important to keep? And what would you like to share and communicate to others, experiences and knowledge, from your culture? Good things: * * *

*

Respect for the elderly - a natural part in the Maasai society. The great hospitality The ornamentation - the beadwork is now a big asset not only as cultural symbol among the Maasai but also as a source of income when it’s sold to the outside world. The moranism- (the warriorhood) it energizes the young to take own initiatives and responsibility.

Bad things: * * *

Female circumcision Early marriages Male dominated society (no oppression of women but the men has a upper position compared to women)

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Arts Beadwork is strongly associated with the Maasai. The keyword is decoration. Although beadwork (with glass beads) is a rather new invention in Africa it’s so connected with Maasai identity that it’s almost impossible to imagine them without. (The beads are imported mainly from the Czech Republic or others.) Beads are used to decorate lots of things except jewellery, schuckas, rungus and calabashes. Although you could easily see more areas where it could be nicely implemented. Some more “tourist adapted” items has been made and are used common also among the Maasai, like watch bracelets and key rings. At Basecamp some things in the dining area and in the tents have been decorated with beads to get the Maasai feeling.

oriented. If something is painted of beaded on it usaually has a purpose and the Maasai appreciate the beatuiful decorations. I see the arts of the Maasai concentrated to handicraft.

The Maasai are happy people that often spontaneously burst into a song. They are used to sing and dance at all times and especially at ceremonies. The singing and dancing is an important factor in their culture and when you once experience it you can’t help but get captured in the special magical atmosphere. They show what a physical people they are with their vigour jumps and rhythmical movements. A word that is once again useful is contrasts. Contrasts between the jumping warrior and the ones on the ground, contrasts in the way of moving in the open space. The art seems to bee limited to the performance and the decoration of useful objects. No art made just for looking at it is made, evrything is very practical

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Warrior

Different objects

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The sketches made by my Maasai friends

Moses Tira, guide at camp. Not educated. Likes squares , reminds of house and is associated with warmth. Favorite wildlife is cheetah. Drew a bull. Drew warrior Maasai. Drew the whole layout of the manyatta.

Dee Matanta Tome, guide at camp. Educated. Likes bright colours. Mostly green because it symbolizes green land and red because that it’s the traditional Maasai colour. Favorite wildlife is giraffe. Drew the whole manyatta. Sensitive to fashion and trends, very aware.

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Amos Sironka Ole Tininah, second manager and guide at camp. Educated. Bright colours, likes green most since it is associated with nature and health. Nature gives food for animals and maasai live on their livestock. Favorite wildlife is cheetah. Drew a Maasai warrior. Likes the circle, associated with the sun, the moon and home. Drew perspective view of manyatta.

Fredrick Lentirr, guide at camp. Educated. Likes triangles, associate with the shape of tents at camp. Likes black, the colour of human beings. Drew a bull. Drew a warrior. Favorite wildlife is lion. Drew perspective view of manyatta. All jewellery should come together.

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Normajoli, mama working in the Arts and Craft. Not educated. Likes red. Favorite wildlife is impala. Likes squares, don’t know why. Drew the whole manyatta.

Narikunkera Lepore, mama working in the Arts and Craft. Not educated. Likes black and white because it is colours used frequently in bead work. Likes round shapes. Favorite wildlife is tortoise. Drew cow with branding. Drew one male and one female Maasai. Drew division of manyatta.

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Rebecca Linkia, works in the reception at camp. Educated. Likes triangles, associated with houses. Likes bright colours, mostly blue. No specific reason. Drew Maasai mama. Used colours. Personalized figures with faces. Favorite wildlife is giraffe.

Nashiluni Parmuai, mama working in the Arts and Craft. Not educated. Likes white. Prefers triangles because it reminds of a house. Favorite wildlife is Thomsons gazelle. Drew the whole manyatta.

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Design toolkit To summarize my new knowledge and in a attempt to make it visible I created a “Maasai design toolkit”. Here I created simple symbols that explains a phenomenon or aspect of Maasai aesthetics. By a short explanation and a illustrating picture my goal is to transfer my understanding in a easy way to any new observers or users. Also to see weather my “toolkit” could be used as a reference for creating new products with a Maasai feeling I used it as a inspirational background for creating kanga patterns. From every defined observation tried to make a kanga that communicates the aspect of the observation but still keeping the essence of a kanga.

Maasai

Not Maasai

Housing

The housing is simple, embracing and natural. As a continuation and modification of the nature surrounding it.

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Maasai

Not Maasai

Maasai

Not Maasai

Matching colours Geometric shapes

Triangles are the most common geometric shape. Used frequently in jewellery.

Continuity

There should be big contrast between two coulours put next to each other.

Fields of coulor should be divided.

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Maasai

Not Maasai

Perfection in lines

Imperfection is not seen ugly. A line might as well be a bit crocked. Computer sketches are seen uglier than hand drawn ones.

Maasai

Not Maasai

Contrasts

High contrasts are seen as beautiful. Dark - Light High - Low War - Peace

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Maasai

Not Maasai

Disorder / Order

Organised disorder.

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Maasai

Not Maasai

Maasai

Not Maasai

Personal decoration Joints of wood

One is not enough. You need many.

Natural and decorative ways of joining two pieces of wood in for example the building of houses.

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Maasai

Not Maasai

Exception- uniformity

Always an exception, something that breaks the pattern. A lonely Maasai on the savanna.

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Maasai

Not Maasai

Maasai

Not Maasai

Decoration Physics

Shaved heads, clear profiles.

Important objects are carefully decorated.

Earloops

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Maasai

Not Maasai

Protection

To create the feeling of embracing protection and security in a harsh environment.

Maasai

Not Maasai

The moon

Perception of things are different. The moon has a different direction.

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Product implementation After this reasearch I wanted to try to implement my new knowledge into a product. To see how that could be done, both for my own understanding and for showing my findings in a more enbodied way. Also this can set an example how my work can be used in local produtions, for a new look at Basecamp or just as a cultural source of inspiration for me in my future work. With the richness and diversity of decoration in the maasai life my thinking soon led me into textiles and patterns. The kanga the Maasai women wears are not so specificly Maasai and as the other common Kanga sold in Kenya many of them are produced in India. The kanga the Maasai women chooses to buy are often in red, orange, black and white combinations. But the patterns are not connected to the Maasai culture and the message written on them is in Kiswahili. Fashion is visible and some new patterns are right now in style, like for example a bright red or blue textile with roaring tigers on. My idea is to make a pattern for new kanga with a Maasai identity. A Maasai inspired kanga could be a way of supporting and encourage the Maasai identity.

modern Africa and not just by applying everything from the northen countries. “ Free translation from: Ordfront nr 11/2004 Other ideas for products came up as well. Another approach for textile is to make a fabric that will be sold in the vestern world. This textile would benefit to our daily lifes by taking the Maasai feeling in to our homes and spaces and with that maybe also telling a message about their culture. Another product suggestion was a bead curtain to put in doorways to keep the flies out. Those kinds of curtains has become a popular decoration element in Europe now, made with beads, bamboo or wood. A product like that

“Culture is the answer to how the poor south shall survive and develop, she says. We have to create our own preferences and to build our own self esteem from our own conditions. Young peoples identities can only be strengthened by that we find our own

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could easily be used both in a modern apartment in Stockholm as well as in the doorway of a Maasai house to keep the flies out.

Product goals A textile pattern that speaks the Maasai design language that I have defined. One or several kanga that can be produced locally. The kanga should have a strong Maasai identity and be beautiful as it is or used in new ways. Be different from the traditional kanga patterns but still keeping the traditional structure of a kanga, the frames and messages.

I want my kanga to be produced in the country. As locally as possible. By that not only will it lead to jobs but also to a closer connection to the new fabric. Also by producing a product aimed to be sold in the country supports the local economy by increasing the consumpion of domestic products. The goal woul be to make the production as environmental friendly as possible. To use dye that is not toxic. According to my targetgroup, the Maasai, appriciation and respectful caring of the nature is essential.

Targetgroup Mainly the Maasi people. But also anyone else that appreciates the new pattern.

The textile buisness in africa Only three procentage of the african cotton is beeing refined on the continent even though the west of Africa is one of the biggest cotton producers. Countries like China, Bangladesh buys the cotton, weaves the textiles, print them and then sell them back to African countries. This has some svere effects on the African textile industry. With the result of many closed textile industries.

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Pattern development Keywords that circled in my head while sketching where, diversity, decoration, colours, richness, contrasts, warmth, happy, not perfect, eyecatching. I started with simple scetches where I tried to find different design elements to start experimenting with. Even though it was lots of triangular shapes the amount of combinations that could be done with just a few where striking. I looked for colours and combinations in my photos from Mara and with the reference of my design grammar. I wanted to try how my design ”toolkit” could help me to find new inspiration and how I could try to make my findings visible in the patterns. I worked through my ”tookit” one by one and tried to make one new kanga pattern for each, see previous section.

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Production I want the production of my new kanga to be as local as possible, close to the Maasai. But to print them would mean investments in machines and it’s probably easies to have that kind of buisness in a bigger town as nairobi. But maybe it’s feasible to make them by hand in the villages. Then the production could be even more beneficial to the Maasai people by generating job opportunities and strengthening the economics of the individuals. A smaller printingshop could be a new project to run similar to the Arts and Craft centre at Basecamp. The design of the patterns have to be adjusted to fit the printing methods. It’s a big difference from printing by machines and by hand. The method of printing/ dyeing will affect the style of the pattern.

Working with two colours.

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Designs There is a milion possibilities for creating new patterns. And I came up with many ideas that I think has the qualitys I was trying to reach. But the pattern I choosed to finalize has some features that made it more suitable. I wanted to see if I could create the Maasai feeling of diversity with only two colours. This due to the fact that printing with many colours is a costful process wich is maybe not suitable for a local production in Kenya. Also, many existing kanga have print in 2-3 colours. Visually I wanted the pattern to look decorative, colourfull, random, geometric, suprising and familiar. The text message on the new kanga should of course be in Maa, the language of the Maasai. And there is some old expressions that can be used in a very nice way. I want the message to say something about the culture, and the origin, about beeing proud and remembering your roots. Some examples could be: I Yioolo eningaua, nimiyiolo enilo - Know where you are coming from but not where you are going Mepal oloitiko isirat - A zebra cannot despise his stripes Diffferent suggestions for new patterns. Text in Maa.

Enkong’u naipanga eng’en - It’s the eye that went far that is wise

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Result My Maasai pattern. With simple triangular shapes I have created a pattern that is both complex and simple, random and organized. The message written in Maa tells you to be proud over your roots and always remember where you are from. Witch goes hand in hand with my thoughts about the Maasai identity and the future. The final pattern changed over and over again along the process and finally it was a minor mistake in the first screen printing that changed it for the last time. The variations that can be done with this pattern are many and other elements can be added. This pattern is calqulated to fit on a approximately 150 x 100 cm size textile.

Know where you are coming from but not where you are going The final pattern that I choosed to print.

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Printing and dyeing practise

I started with screenprinting four pieces of textile. I soon realised that the work would bee timeconsuming and difficult. The major problems where that the screenprinting frames are rather small for such a big textile, I didnt have time to let the colours dry between I moved the frames witch resulted in stains, it was hard to get presicion and to measure where to put the next frame down and the pattern was very complex to print. My intention to make a simple but still randomly complex pattern had succeded but it was probably to complex for screenprinting by hand as I did. It took me aproximately 20 hours to print four pieces of textile. And I used 8 different frames to create the pattern. If this pattern where to be produced with screenprinting it has to be somehow industrialised with bigger frames and rulers that helps for precision. Made by hand, it would be better to have a pattern that are more random and repetative. Although the result is nice. The colours are distinct and bright. Its also easy to make colour variations and nyances. So different colour sets could be produced depending on the local preference and style.

Different colours

Screenprinting

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I also wanted to try another method of colouring the textile. I used the process of wax batik. This way of dyeing textile creates a more soft and alive pattern that kind of encourages small mistakes and should look handmade. The hardest part was to be precise when painting the warm wax on the textile. But the most time conuming part was to trace the pattern to the textile with a pencil, (although in this case I had help of the already screenprinted textile underneath the new one). For some reason or another the colour in didnt come out as strong as I wished. This can be depending on many factors like the quality of the fabric, the chemicals in the colourbath, the temperature on the solution and the absorbation time. But the result was anyhow pleasing. It was fun to work with the hot wax and it feels a bit more like “handicraft” to go through this process. I spent approximately 12 hours to dye one kanga and two quarters of a kanga (test pieces).

All white fields covered with wax

First the red colour

All red fields also covered with wax

The black colour covers the red

Wax batik

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Screenprinted

If I where to choose wich metod that gave the most “Maasai” result, I would say the batik one. This method is also more suitable for a small scale production that dosn’t need much equipment. The complexity of the pattern seemed not so confusing and hard with this way of working.

Batik

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Last words I have during this project learnt alot, not only about a different culture, but also about identity and how that is visually communicated. This is something that is seen all around us in different amounts. Subcultures, religions, tribes and others are showing their pride and belonging in specific ways. I think this is a need we all have, to express ourselves towards others, to say “This is me and what I believe and I belong to them, they are my family”. By recognising and learning about theese symbols and it’s cultural heritage I think we can be more humble to all people, and to make sure that the old believes and traditions are not forgotten.

Advertising for clothes in a magazine. Maasai earrings worn in the same way as the Maasai does, through holes in the upper part of the ear. The ones making the add must have seen how the earrings are tarditionally used. This is an example of how people here far away uses inspiration from different cultures.

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Thank you’s

Sources

Thanks to Basecamp Masai Mara. Especially to Tina Frisk, Lars Lindkvist, Amos, Piers and Tiito. My new good friends in Maasai land: Dee, Fred, Patrick, Daniel, Young Moses, Patrick, Ben, Rebecca, Grace, family Tome, Karen, Dorrobo, William, Richard, David and all other amazing people we met…

Magdalena Boman, Ordfront nr 11/2004, Bomullshandel hotar design . sid 13-16

Thanks to our teachers and supervisors Maria Nyström and Pido Odoch, Catarina Östlund and Anna Stuermer. Thanks to my dear friends Laura, Kajsa, Winnie and Steve of with whom I share all the memories. Mom and Lina for helping me with the time consuming process of screen printing and batik dyeing of the textile. Thanks to Emma Nilsby, Charlotte Lindell and Moses Ole Nkaru that we had the opportunity to meet and discuss our projects with at the UN Nairobi.

Sultan H. Somjee, Color, song and meaning among the Maasai, 1/30/1998, Mennonite Central Committee of Kenya Teplit Ole Saitoti. Maasai, 1993, Harry N Abrams Inc, New York. Sultan H. Somjee, The Heritage Factor in the Constitution. 12-09-2001 Sven och Ingergerd Zetterlund, Masai Mara - på äventyr bland vilda djur och massajer, 2003, Zetterlund & Co, Örebro Pido Odoch, University of Nairobi, knowledge about meaning of colours in the Maasai tribe.

Appendix

/ Nashipai 1. The Heritage Factor in the Constitution. By Sultan H. Somjee 2. Time schedule

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APPENDIX 1 Extract from: The Heritage Factor in the Constitution By Sultan H. Somjee Ethnographer and Consultant, Constitution of Kenya Review Commission

feature and mode of beauty, decency and pride. The Kenyan youth is searching for a Kenyan identity to own and project in this era of globalization where the youth feels culturally marginalized. One reason for the numerous and violent school strikes, high levels of substance abuse and falling morals of the youth may be due to the loss of touch with social values and identity. The new Constitution of the current generation set has the responsibility to restore that identity. /---/

/---/ The third is to adopt the unique traditions of some communities that express social values in such a creative and uniquely African way that we can all be proud of and it becomes a part of our national expression. The process of developing the national ethic begins with first describing and understanding the multiplicity of ethnic and community ethics which includes both faith and cultural knowledge. There are community ethics such as respecting the consensus of the elders, respect for life and the dead, sacredness of the earth, spirituality in the traditional belief systems and the sense of aesthetics. It’s the right of the citizens and the children to own their heritage languages. Legalize and acknowledge this fact, and let’s be proud of it. In this aspect we are a unique nation. The Maasai dress and adornment is proudly dawned by Miss Kenya, Miss Tourism and by young Kenyan urbanites at the Carnivore and Safari Park Hotel irrespective of their faith and ethnic backgrounds. We see the Maasai beads incorporated into modern African fashion. The Constitution can help to promote such similar symbolic elements of a rich national heritage of decor and social functions. The Maasai attire and ornament has become symbolic of a national culture and it projects such visually powerful a Kenyan National Identity through one ethnic

4. Protect and promote the National Aesthetic Protection of elder institutions, the forests and community’s social order and security is supported by and linked to the domain of aesthetics in ethnic societies. Colors and patterns are power symbols of peace and order in many societies. Ethnic aesthetic systems encompass beauty, sacredness of the land and life. There are often women-made bead patterns of the order of beauty, metaphors associated with social integrity, and there are accompanying songs and narratives of beauty, peace and relationship building. These stylized expressions affirm life and the order of living in communities. For example, the Maasai word for beauty is osotua. It’s also a metaphor for close social relationship and the umbilical cord. It means peace as well and most important it means a gift out of friendship. The Constitution must protect our national aesthetic values from destruction and oblivion even before they are understood and documented for generations to come for they must know what a bead, a colour and pattern meant to the African people of Kenya. Let me elaborate further. Beauty in Maa is osotua and like sidai it is also greeting for the goodness, well-being and prosperity for it is the mother’s umbilical cord that we all once shared. Peace is out of respect of the original relationship that all humans and animals of

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this earth began life in the womb, a woman’s gift of life and the gift of motherhood. The earth is the mother. In pastoralist civilizations there are different symbols of keeping social order. The Constitution is fundamentally about keeping the social order by affirming the values of life and security that we cherish. Ethnic order among the contemporary societies of the vast northern regions of Kenya is expressed in imagery of patterns on animals and in the colours of material culture and the environment. They are the visual expressions of social protective and care giving structures that support community pro-life and justice systems.

and sense of aesthetic pleasure derived from our ancient artefacts, the environment, rituals and the earth. And for this to happen we must have time to first understand and know the yet unknown visual traditions of function and decor such as the diversity of aesthetic systems of Kenya.

The meticulously constructed and disciplined patterns of beauty are given thought and expression in ornamentation types made by mainly women consciously and mathematically calculated to compliment functions of the administrators and protectors of their rights and values. For this reason there should be no tax on importation of beads and other art material. Today beads are heavily taxed as luxury goods like diamonds and BMWs. But coloured beads are material for expression of a national aesthetic. Protect and enhance the people’s sense of beauty, the joy of life and peace. The Maasai say where there is no beauty there is no peace. And peace is the highest quality for maintenance to regulate society that the Constitution is drafted to guarantee that we have it. 5. Protect and promote the material culture of Kenya Everyday there is massive exportation of Kenya’s material culture. The previous part directly discussed the importance of beaded ornaments to the Kenyan identity and national culture. The ornaments are just one category of material culture. We have other categories such as containers and furniture. All these are important for promoting and projecting our image of who we are and where are we coming from. The Constitution must allow and facilitate appreciation of our own self-images, our art history

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APPENDIX 2

1

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