TRADITIONAL HAUSA CLOTHS: A COMPARATIVE COLLECTION OF SOKOTO AND KEBBI STATE

Thesis Overview

<p>INTRODUCTION<br>1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY<br>Nigeria, among other African countries is known for her different<br>varieties of traditional cloths ranging from one ethnic group to the other. The evidence can<br>be seen from all the thirty six states in Nigeria; the clothing style of the eastern Nigeria diets from that of the northern Nigeria as so on.<br>Clothing is anything placed on the body to adorn or to motivate behavior (John and Foster, 1990). It includes all the different garments, accessories or<br>ornaments worn by people as well as their make-up and styles. Theories have attempted to explain the motivation factors underlying clothing choices and<br>decision. Such theories include: modesty, immodesty, protection and adornment theories (Marshal Jackson, Stanley, Kefgen and Touchie 2000). Modesty<br>theory focuses on standard regarding the area of the anatomy to be concealed and state that clothes are worn solely to conceal or cover nakedness (Marshal<br>et al. 2000). Various cultures have rules about modesty that relate to their use of clothing. The immodesty theory on the other hand states that clothing is not<br>to cover nakedness but to attract attention. The argument here is that wearing of garment is far erotic than in going without them (Marshal et al. 2000). The<br>protection theory view physical protection and psychological protection as major reasons of purpose of wearing clothes.<br>Dress or clothing is a kind of garment worn by people of all cultures since pre-historic times. Different peoples of the world have their unique dress culture.<br>The materials used for making dresses range from cotton, wool, silk fabric to flax fabric and rubber. Dresses that people in all cultures wear are determined by<br>a number of factors. The main factor that has determined, and is still determining, the variety of clothes in different times and locations, is climate (Braun,<br>2005). In Nigeria for instance, we have the rainy season and the dry season, with their characteristic cold and hot temperature. Dress culture therefore has to<br>bow to the prevailing weather condition. Dress culture has also been aected<br>by changing styles or fashion in vogue. Other factors that influence the dress<br>that people wear are the availability of materials, cost of materials, technology of the period, peoples’ social status, human migration, religious tradition,<br>assimilation of various traditions, social cosmopolitan outlook or modernity, travels and perhaps colonization, conversion and nationalism.<br></p>