Crafts

Handicrafts appeared in Subsaharan Africa since long ago: more precisely, since the times when people understood that they need objects which can be better manufactured by specialists. Sometimes, specialists form castes whose members are not supposed to marry women outside the cast, so that professional secrets may not pass on to the outsiders. However, many ethnic groups have no castes, and those who have may distribute occupations among the castes in different manners. So, weaving is most often a man’s job which can be done by any man, while bards often constitute a special caste of “griots”, or “masters of the word”.

A weaver is sewing together woven bands into a cloth.  Cote d'Ivoire. The Kla-Dan. V. F. Vydrin. 2002		The market day is over, the unsold calabashes are being   packed to take them back home.  Mali. The Maninka. Ye.V. Perehvalskaya. 2005.		One does not often see people dressed in bogolan mud cloth in the capital. Bamako, Perekhvalskaya E., 2005.
Making of a maul for beating fabric. Bamako, Perekhvalskaya E., 2005.		Karaka, a bed made of stiff ribs of raffia fronds or bamboo stalks. Sebekoro, Vydrin V., 1998		The pottery row in one of the markets in the capital. Abidjan, Perekhvalskaya E.
Blacksmith Pelengana, E. den Otter, 2004.