Dashikis - An Old New African & African American Style

Written by Azizi Powell (c) August 2014

Once there were Yoruba Nigerian pullover shirts for males that were called dàńṣíkí. The word dansiki came from the Hausa (Nigerian) word dáncíkí and both were pronounced dan-shee-kee. Dansikis weren't troubled that they were just an undershirt for a three piece outfit of robe (agbada, grand boubou, and other names) and sokoto (pants), or perhaps a four piece outfit if you include the kofi (folded hat). After all, the word "dansiki" means "underneath" in the Hausa language.

And just like men in the United States and other Western nations wouldn't consider themselves well dressed without their suit jackets on, for formal occasions, well dressed Nigerian men belonging to the ethnic groups wouldn't wear their dansikis without putting their robes on over them.

Some dansikis were made out of lace, others of silk, or brocade or traditional African print or other cotton fabrics. Some dansikis had elaborate embroidery patterns around the neck, chest, and sleeve lines while other dansikis had simple embroidery or none at all. Some dansikis had V necklines while others had square or slightly scooped necklines. But all dansikis were form fitting, sleeveless, or with long sleeves or three quarter length sleeves. And all dansikis nearly reached down to their wearers' knees. And that was all good.

But then something happened. Change was in the air, and far across the ocean some men who weren't from Nigeria- at least all of them weren't from that nation, and those that were may not have known it-somehow heard about dansikis.

Those Black men -who are now known as African Americans-wanted to wear clothing that told the world in one glance that they were proud of their African heritage. These men could have chosen to wear material wrapped around their body like a toga since that was how Akan men and a number of other men throughout African traditionally dress. But wearing togas in the United States wasn't such a good ideas, especially drunken college fraternities gave toga parties a bad name. After rejecting loin cloths and no top- in part because it's too cold in much of that nation, and in part because...well just because- the Black men thought about wearing fur pieces as tops along with pants. But they vetoed that idea because they didn't want to be picketed by those anti-cruelty to animal folks, whatever their name was. But then one man who later became a king* decided to sew some dansikis, and some younger men did too*, but they changed the way those dansikis looked.

The dansikis became looser, with short sleeves or three quarter sleeves that were also wider and cooler than they originally were. Also, most of these new styled dansikis were V necked and some had collars. And the new style dansikis were shorter, with their length falling an inch or so below the waist. Also, those new dansikis weren't made out of lace, or brocade, or even traditional African print. Most of them were made out of fake African print that had these zig zaggedy, geometrical shapes on the fabric which some people thought looked kinda hip, but others weren't impressed with at all. But the new style dansikis wasn't disturbed by what others thought- they knew they were lookin good, especially the ones with that embroidery sewn around their necks.

And the makers of those new style, loose fitting dansikis decided to add big pockets on each side or one in the front to make them even more practice. Then those creators-or adapters- decided that these new style dansikis would be worn with pants but without any outer robe. That was different and took some getting use to, but after a while it felt good and it was all good.

Since these were new style dansikis, and since change was in the air, the Black men who made these dansikis came up with a new name for them. Thus the word "dashiki" was born. And it was very good.

And dashikis was so good that many African men-particularly African singers- throughout the continent began to wear those new style shirts so that people seeing them would immediately know that they came from the motherland.

But, some people who weren't of African descent-at least that they knew of- became hip to dashikis, and began to wear them with a lot of beaded necklaces, and- usually - with pants, or shorts. And even some women began to wear them -usually with long wide skirts. And for a time, fewer and fewer African Americans wore dashikis, and the ones who did wear them only did so for special occasions during one short, cold month of the year or during festivities at an African holiday that they had made up called Kwanzaa. And so it remains today. Except that some people in that country are trying to bring back dashikis. And that might be good if its not just for show.

And in Africa, the birthplace of us all, males are still wearing old style (Native) dansikis, and some new style dashikis as well, not only in Nigeria, but also -particularly performers wear those shirts throughout that vast continent. And when people see those performers they immediately know that they are representing the motherland. And that is very very good.

-snip-
* From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashiki
"Oba (Yoruba word for king) Ofuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi, who was born Walter Eugene in Detroit, Michigan, USA in 1928. He became interested in African Studies at the age of 16, and travelled to Haiti at the age of 20 in order to be exposed to African religion from indigenous Africans. Soon after, he returned to the U.S. and began a small scale manufacturing business which included African attire, most notably dashikis.

The term dashiki began appearing in print at least as early as 1967. Reporting on the 1967 Newark riots in the Amsterdam News on July 22, 1967, George Barner refers to a new African garment called a "danshiki." "Dashiki" formally appeared in the Webster’s New World Dictionary 1st College Edition 1970/72. It cites J. Benning as having coined the word in 1967. J. Benning, M. Clarke, H. Davis and W. Smith founded New Breed, the first manufacturer of the garment in Harlem."
-snip-
His Royal Highness Oba Ofuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi was the founder and head of the Yoruba Temple in New York City, and was the founder and leader of the Yoruba Village of Oyotunji in Beaufort County South Carolina in 1970.

Click http://www.oyotunji.org/oba-oseijeman-bio.html for information about Oba Adefunmi.

That article indicates that Oba Adefunmi "Introduced the Danshiki and began small scale manufacture of African attire in the summer of 1960. Founded the Yoruba Academy for the academic study of Yoruba history, religion and language in 1961. Opened the Ujamaa Market in 1961 beginning a trend of African boutiques, which, like the Danshiki, spread throughout African American communities."
-end of quote-
Also click http://www.pluralism.org/religion/afro-caribbean/oyotunji for information about Oyotunji Village.

I was fortunate to receive a psychic reading from Oba Adefunmi at his home in New York City in 1969, before he moved to South Carolina. That reading was quite evidentiary.

I can attest from personal experience that Oba Adefunmi (who was known then as Baba Osejiman) wore traditional African clothing, as did/does persons affiliated with him, I haven't yet found any outside documentation that he was the originator of dashikis in the United States. While it's probable that he might have manufactured traditional West African clothing, there's no documentation to support the claim that the shirts that he manufactured were called "dashikis" or looked like what is now known as "dashikis".
-snip-
Some material for this essay came from http://www.dupsies.com/blogs/category/dashiki/ and http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-types-styles/dashiki

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FEATURED VIDEOs
[Iconic late 1960s-1970s dashikis]
Example #1: Traditional Print African Dashiki | Africa Imports Bestsellers



Africa Imports, Uploaded on Nov 19, 2009

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Example #2: Maliki Pandeiro in Uncle Jerry's Dashiki (Maliki Pandeiro no Dashiki do Tio Jerry)



Malikilam Uploaded on Oct 2, 2010

Well, I recently inherited this dashiki from my Uncle Jerry who just passed away. So, this is a tribute to him.

On some level it's nice useful and enjoyable to take existing very seriously and focus on whatever is designated as important in our culturo-temporal context (yes, I'm making up words cause that's how I do), AND (not BUT but AND because this is about unification not distinction) it is also nice, useful and enjoyable to jump into an experience with a lot less preconception and simply play like a kid.

So, this play session is dedicated to one of the cats who laid the foundation on which I do my thing (and hopefully lay some foundations for other folks), my Uncle Jerry. I suppose you could say my Uncle Jerry was a sort of bridge in that he came out of Harlem NYC in an era that was, from what he told me, very much a different scene than what I am used to. It seems like competition (for resources, self-esteem and space to exist) was highlighted in the consciousness of that world, and, interestingly enough, the underlying unity and harmony continually found its way up through the cracks in the cement jungle (doesn't it always eventually?).
From that background Uncle Jerry bridged out to travel the world, explore Eastern religions, make up songs about how he was going to force us kids to eat oatmeal, tell us to feel how strong his biceps were and then catch our hand between his biceps and forearm and not let go, dress to the nines in white suits with butterfly collars, drink Gewürztraminer wine and smack his lips in spirals of excessive glee, hit on women half his age, stay in the ocean and pool longer than any land mammal should, write articles on African-American history and physics to try to educate youngsters, and generally tell everybody what to do and how to do it.

Thanks Uncle Jerry!

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[Examples of Traditional and Contemporary Dansikis in Nigeria]
Note that some contemporary Nigerian dansikis are made with short sleeves, which-if I'm correct that this isn't traditional, suggests the influence of African American dashikis.

Example #1: BEST OF NIGERIAN FASHION "natives"



Godson Eh, Published on Oct 12, 2012

Nigeria is a very diverse Nation. Every tribes has their own costumes and styles of dressing,eating and dancing and singing. Here in this pictures, you have some of the various form of dressing popularly know in Nigeria as "Natives" presented

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Example #2: JANE & NICHOLAS Part 1



pano4real's channel, Published on Jan 29, 2014

Traditional Marriage Ceremony
-snip-
Notice the Nigerian custom and the custom in several other West African nations of spraying money. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/spraying-money-at-yoruba-nigerian.html for a pancocojams post on this custom.
-snip-
Given their attire, including the hats the men wear, and the type of jewelry that the men and women wear, I don't think that this couple is Yoruba. But I'm not sure about that.

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[Examples of Contemporary Dashikis in South Africa]
Example #1: Mzansi Youth Choir



Tony Stroebel Uploaded on Jul 19, 2010

One of the best choirs South Africa has to offer! Performed at the opening of the Fifa 2010 Soccer World cup. Shot with a Canon 5D by Redletter productions.

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Example #2: The Black Umfolosi 5 - Shosholoza



BlackUmfolosiMusic, Uploaded on Feb 29, 2012

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RELATED LINKS
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/dashikis-adaptation-of-yoruba-dansiki.html

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