Women’s realm
4
Women’s realm The textiles of rural Tunisia have been largely overlooked – as has the predominantly feminine culture that produced them. Renate Anna Menzel argues that their apparent simplicity encompasses a wealth of subtle and mysterious beauty F or more than two decades I have been intensively concerned with the rural textile heritage of Tunisia and neigh- bouring Libya, collecting women’s woven clothing. In Tunisia, as in the West, these cloths turn up only occasionally. Much that we prize today as ‘minimalist’ was once overlooked, and most collectors’ items, even in museums, have no precise indication of origin or dating. Neither the French anthropologists at the time of the Protectorate (1881–1956), nor the women researchers of the young nation state that followed, were able to compile an overview of this part of Tunisia’s cultural heritage. These textiles have an enigmatic, secretive quality; it is as though this intimate female sphere, this innermost space, resists an outsider’s view. Almost no photographic material shows women in their traditional clothing ( 8 ), perhaps a mark of respect by the authoritative documentarist of rural life, André-Marie Louis (1912–1978), a priest of the French Christian order of the Pères Blancs. Under his direction, at the Centre des Arts et Traditions Populaires, founded in 1965, a group of Tunisian women researchers began to collect and document folk culture. In 2007 I met three scientists from that team, Alya Bayram, Aziza Ben Tanfous and Samira Gargouri-Sethom. They confrmed that the young republic had aimed to sideline tribal and ethnic identity, in order to establish the idea of a united secular state, oriented to the West. Thus much of the cultural memory of the tribes remained undocumented and was lost. With respect to folk culture, researchers restricted themselves to the urban coastal regions, to the rich, gold-embroidered tailored traditional costumes and silk weavings infuenced by Andalusian Jews and the Ottoman Empire. By comparison, the woollen textiles of the peasant and nomad women appeared of insufcient value to the country’s emergence into modernity. And yet a Tunisian proverb says: ‘ All is vanity, except wool and grain'. Geographically, Tunisia is characterised by its north–south axis, with great diferences between the climatically advantaged coastal regions and the arid mountains, steppes and desert. Its long coastline has opened up the country to the Mediterranean, so that it has been infuenced and formed by many cultures. Although Berbers were the original inhabitants, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and French were the major ruling peoples. However, the infuence of these cultures on the lifestyle in the interior remained slight; only encounters with Arab tribes had a formative efect on life in the hinterland. The culture of the peasants and nomads was marked by a closed world view, a belief system laden with magic, handed down for thousands of years. It was an elemental life, embedded in the cycle of nature. Women played a socially important role and were honoured as creators and nourishers. Berber culture is also associated with a matriarchal society. In the early 20th century the rural, mainly sedentary, existence of the Berbers was largely It is as though this intimate female sphere, this innermost space, resists an outsider’s view 1-2 Woman's shawl ( mouchtiya), Djelass, Basse Steppe, central Tunisia, frst quarter 20th century. Wool and cotton, brocade and tapestry weave, 0.95 x 2.28 m (3'1" x 7'6"). All photos courtesy of the Menzel Collection 2
Transcript of Women’s realm
UntitledWomen’s realm The textiles of rural Tunisia have been
largely overlooked – as has the
predominantly feminine culture that produced them. Renate Anna Menzel
argues that their apparent simplicity encompasses a wealth of subtle and
mysterious beauty
intensively concerned with the rural
textile heritage of Tunisia and neigh-
bouring Libya, collecting women’s woven
clothing. In Tunisia, as in the West, these
cloths turn up only occasionally. Much that we
prize today as ‘minimalist’ was once overlooked,
and most collectors’ items, even in museums,
have no precise indication of origin or dating.
Neither the French anthropologists at the
time of the Protectorate (1881–1956), nor the
women researchers of the young nation state
that followed, were able to compile an overview
of this part of Tunisia’s cultural heritage. These
textiles have an enigmatic, secretive quality; it
is as though this intimate female sphere, this
innermost space, resists an outsider’s view.
Almost no photographic material shows
women in their traditional clothing (8),
perhaps a mark of respect by the authoritative
documentarist of rural life, André-Marie Louis
(1912–1978), a priest of the French Christian order
of the Pères Blancs. Under his direction, at the
Centre des Arts et Traditions Populaires, founded
in 1965, a group of Tunisian women researchers
began to collect and document folk culture.
In 2007 I met three scientists from that team,
Alya Bayram, Aziza Ben Tanfous and Samira
Gargouri-Sethom. They confirmed that the
young republic had aimed to sideline tribal and
ethnic identity, in order to establish the idea of a
united secular state, oriented to the West. Thus
much of the cultural memory of the tribes
remained undocumented and was lost. With
respect to folk culture, researchers restricted
themselves to the urban coastal regions, to the
rich, gold-embroidered tailored traditional
Andalusian Jews and the Ottoman Empire. By
comparison, the woollen textiles of the
peasant and nomad women appeared of
insufficient value to the country’s emergence
into modernity. And yet a Tunisian proverb
says: ‘All is vanity, except wool and grain'.
Geographically, Tunisia is characterised by
its north–south axis, with great differences
between the climatically advantaged coastal
regions and the arid mountains, steppes and
desert. Its long coastline has opened up the
country to the Mediterranean, so that it has
been influenced and formed by many cultures.
Although Berbers were the original inhabitants,
Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and French were
the major ruling peoples. However, the
influence of these cultures on the lifestyle in
the interior remained slight; only encounters
with Arab tribes had a formative effect on life
in the hinterland.
marked by a closed world view, a belief system
laden with magic, handed down for thousands
of years. It was an elemental life, embedded in
the cycle of nature. Women played a socially
important role and were honoured as creators
and nourishers. Berber culture is also associated
with a matriarchal society.
sedentary, existence of the Berbers was largely
It is as though this intimate female sphere, this
innermost space, resists an outsider’s view
1-2 Woman's shawl (mouchtiya),
Djelass, Basse Steppe, central
Tunisia, first quarter 20th
and tapestry weave, 0.95 x 2.28 m
(3'1" x 7'6"). All photos courtesy of
the Menzel Collection
Tunisian textiles Tunisian textiles88 89
henna dyes. Henna is reported to be apotropaic, which together with the
woven emblems, might suggest magical significance.
Dyeing was undertaken by women in the home. The colour spectrum
of these cloths is minimal: red, blue, black (commonly a very dark blue),
and a maroon that is often red and blue combined. White areas are either
undyed wool or the cotton that forms the pattern. The only colourful
cloths are those with red tie-dye designs, whose unusual green ground
is from overdyeing yellow with blue. Red came from kermes, cochineal,
madder, lac and henna, blue from indigo (nila). For black and maroon
they used pomegranate peel and iron sulphate. For yellow, the root of
árjâgnû, a plant commonly found in the steppe and in the south.
The colouring of the textiles is sometimes assigned to different stages
of life: uncoloured white textiles for young girls, red for young women,
and black or blue for old women. However, some regional groups use only
one of these colours, and many cloths have three, red, black and white, a
scheme known also from women’s pottery (1).
The vertical loom used is common to the whole North African area. It is
an archaic device, probably in use even before the Phoenician era. The
woven pattern consists of simple alternating float weave, braided twining,
brocading and weft wrapping (3, 9, 10). Patterns are a virtually unlimited
self-sufficient, in alliance with Arab nomads whose religion – Islam – they
had integrated into their world view. The mingling and assimilation of
the two groups had taken place centuries earlier, and many tribes have
both Berber and Arab origins (though it is worth noting that Berbers are not
mentioned in the national constitution). Ethnically clear distinction is thus
questionable, even when the decorative language of the cloths is not
Arabic. The decisive criterion for me is therefore their origin in rural life.
The main material for textile use in rural north Africa was sheep’s wool.
As in all pre-industrial societies, women were the weavers. Whether
among Berbers or the nomadic Bedouins, women were responsible for
clothing and furnishings. They protected and housed the family, the
tribe. In a life that knew no excess, everything was produced for a
particular purpose. But it was in the weavings for clothing, the protective
‘second skin’, that this female culture placed all its personal expression.
The technically most developed weaving culture is found in the
mountainous regions of the south. The old sedentary population, the
‘Jebalia’, as the Zenata Berbers are called here, have passed their traditions
down the generations. The women’s cloths are of the noblest character.
Every village in this inaccessible region has its own style.
Less accomplished weavings are also of great interest. These were
probably made by women leading a nomadic lifestyle, and perhaps also
in Arab communities attempting to imitate the rich Berber tradition.
Their spontaneous style, sometimes sketchily embroidered, has an
expressive power of its own. For me, these cloths also manifest a link
with sub-Saharan Africa, for a strong African undertone is evident.
The main material is wool, while the delicate patterns are in cotton.
Dyeing took place after weaving. The white wool cloth with patterned
areas in white cotton (sometimes pre-dyed black wool is introduced) is
placed in the dye bath with the mordant. The varying behaviour of
animal and vegetable materials is the basis for a ‘negative reserve
technique’, so called by the Basel ethnologist Alfred Bühler in his 1972
work Ikat, Batik, Plangi. The effect of this retrospective piece dyeing is
often a cloudily dramatic shading, when the dye takes unevenly, giving
the cloths a mysterious inner glow. As in colour-field painting, their
sensitive quality can be grasped only through personal encounter.
A second reserve technique, also widespread, is a type of tie-dyeing
called plangi, documented in 1925 by Prosper Ricard in his essay ‘Le Batik
berbère’, and examined in detail by Bühler. This involves a simple tying
of the woollen cloth: generally a round object, a stone or grain, is bound
into it. It is dipped into a dye bath, then the thread is untied. This leaves
the tied-off parts untouched, with a circle appearing on one side of the
cloth, and a round spot of colour on the other. Plangi is mostly found at
both ends of cloths with woven lines of pattern. Sometimes it is the only
creative element, especially in small three-colour headscarves from the
Matmata mountains (11), in headbands from the same region (5), and in
cloths from a nomadic group from the pre-Sahara zone.
Bühler points out that this dyeing method occurs only in the female
context. Most observers state that the red plangi spots are produced by
3 Wraparound garment
(houli), Chenini, Jebel
Demmer, southern Tunisia,
4 Shawl (ta'jira), probably
x 5'5")
personal encounter
5, 7-8 Shawl (bakhnough), Ksar Hallouf, Dahar,
southern Tunisia, early 20th century. Wool
with cotton brocade, circa 1.10 x 2.00 m (3'7" x
6'7"). The provenance of this type of shawl is
recorded in a rare photograph (8) taken in
southern Tunisia. It is a sophisticated and
opulent mantle, demonstrating the unlimited
possibilities, variations and combinations of
geometric design elements. The motifs come
together to form a protective network,
especially in the section covering the head and
spine. The shawl is symmetrical, yet manages
to escape the bonds of symmetry. The type has
close connections with the shawls of the
Matmata village Toujane, indicating that there
may have been tribal links between the two.
6 Headband (assaba, Berb. tassabt), Tamezret,
Matmata mountains, southern Tunisia, first
half 20th century. Wool, sprang, tie-dye, 0.25 x
2.10 m (0'10" x 6' 11")
9 Woman from southern Tunisia, recorded as
'gens de Ksar Hallouf', wearing her bakhnough.
Archive of Dar Ben Abdallah, Tunis, 1965.
Image courtesy of the photo library of the
Centre des Arts et Traditions Populaires, Dar
Ben Abdallah, Tunis
triangles, squares, lozenges, dots, lines and
zigzags, expressed within the conventions of
the group and community framework. Similar
patterning is also found in the women’s tattoos,
in their pottery and in all other artefacts of the
rural Maghreb. Some researchers refer to their
occurrence in prehistoric times. There are names
for individual patterns, but these do not reveal
the significance that lies behind them. Some
textiles also have woven figurative motifs.
In most pieces the ends are emphasised by
simple lines or with more elaborate lines of
pattern. Some cloths have patterned lines in
parallel over the whole area, others have
patterns only at the sides, but above all we find
shawls with a strong emphasis on the central
axis. When worn, the protective signs lie over
the crown of the head and along the spine, an
architectural pattern manifesting a strong
connection between spirituality and physical
reference. There are also cloths with symbols
12 Head covering (mendil, Berb.
tamendilt), Tamezret, Toujout,
Matmata mountains, southern
0.72 x 1.13 (2'4" x 3'3")
13 Matmata mountains, southern
old ksar of Beni Aissa10-11 Shawl (ta'jira), Oued el Khil,
Beni Kheddache, Dahar, southern
cotton weft wrapping, silk
1.10 x 1.47 m (3'7" x 4'10")
variants. Houli, hrem, or in the Berber language ta’oudi, are names for the
long woollen garment draped and wrapped around the body, gathered by
a woollen belt and fastened at the front with two fibula. Depending on the
height of the woman, it measures 3.5 –4.5 x 1.2 m. It is a majestic cloth
that in its ornamented woven form is known only in the mountains of
the south, and has probably long been an exclusively ritual textile (2).
The best-known form is called the bakhnoug, bakhnuk or bakhnuq (and
other variants). This rectangular woollen cloth, circa 2 x 1 m, was worn
over the head and shoulders like a protective tent. In the Sahel and Basse
Steppe a larger textile of this kind is called mouchtiya (1), and a smaller
form mendil. Almost square cloths of various sizes, worn like a headscarf,
are called ta’jira, ‘ajar, mendil (Berb. tamendilt), tarf or garn. These are often
made of wool and silk, very frequently with the addition of embroidery.
The ketfiya is a distinctive cloth in a small format of circa 0.9 x 0.4 m.
This textile was laid over the shoulder and fastened in front with a fibula,
and was intended to protect the long wraparound cloth from oily perfumed
hair. It is known above all in the mountain region of the south .
The long finger woven or sprang cloth that is wrapped around the
head as a turban is called assaba (Berb. tassabt). This archaic technique
was used by Berbers in regionally delimited areas (but is also documented
in southern Morocco). The highly elastic, net-like weaving is produced
on a primitive loom simply by criss-crossing and interlacing the warps.
I make a rough distinction between cloths from central and southern
Tunisia with technical differences. There are cloths from the Basse
Steppe and the Sahel, the mountains east of Gafsa, the Arad, Matmata
mountain country, the Jebel Demmer and the Dahar, the Nefzaoua, the
Jeffara Plain, and the adjoining Jebel Nefousa mountain region in Libya.
I assess the oldest cloths as mid to late 19th century, and the end of their
period of production as mid 20th century. This marks the last point for
field research, for there are few weavers left to provide information.
In the past few years important exhibitions have looked at textiles in
the context of modernist art. These shed light on the influence of non-
European cultures on our modernism, but none gave appropriate space
to the original material. Eurocentrism still relegates objects from another
existence to a place in the cabinet devoted to ethnography or crafts.
Tunisian state storehouses contain 1,200 women’s costumes, but it is
unclear how many are rural weavings in wool. Currently, the country
faces too many other challenges for the preservation and documentation
of the rural past to become a priority – yet this would be an important
contribution to a new, proud discovery of identity.
12
13
women of Chenini captivate us with the
ornamental framing of an empty field (2).
In many cloths there are embroidered
inserts, often worked in silk. Needlework was
taboo for a Berber woman, and the embroideries
are mostly not abstract but narrative. The urban
embroidery culture of the coastal regions,
based on Andalusian and Ottoman models,
may have exerted an influence here, but many
systems of signs are also linked with sub-
Saharan Africa. For example, the cloths of the
Ayechi women from the mountainous district
east of Gafsa were embroidered by men. This is
also recorded for cloths from the Matmata
mountains. In the oasis of Gabes, it was mainly
black women who added the embroidery. And
Jewish women also embroidered.
functions, and were sometimes worn on top of
each other. There are regional terms and many
11
10
predominantly feminine culture that produced them. Renate Anna Menzel
argues that their apparent simplicity encompasses a wealth of subtle and
mysterious beauty
intensively concerned with the rural
textile heritage of Tunisia and neigh-
bouring Libya, collecting women’s woven
clothing. In Tunisia, as in the West, these
cloths turn up only occasionally. Much that we
prize today as ‘minimalist’ was once overlooked,
and most collectors’ items, even in museums,
have no precise indication of origin or dating.
Neither the French anthropologists at the
time of the Protectorate (1881–1956), nor the
women researchers of the young nation state
that followed, were able to compile an overview
of this part of Tunisia’s cultural heritage. These
textiles have an enigmatic, secretive quality; it
is as though this intimate female sphere, this
innermost space, resists an outsider’s view.
Almost no photographic material shows
women in their traditional clothing (8),
perhaps a mark of respect by the authoritative
documentarist of rural life, André-Marie Louis
(1912–1978), a priest of the French Christian order
of the Pères Blancs. Under his direction, at the
Centre des Arts et Traditions Populaires, founded
in 1965, a group of Tunisian women researchers
began to collect and document folk culture.
In 2007 I met three scientists from that team,
Alya Bayram, Aziza Ben Tanfous and Samira
Gargouri-Sethom. They confirmed that the
young republic had aimed to sideline tribal and
ethnic identity, in order to establish the idea of a
united secular state, oriented to the West. Thus
much of the cultural memory of the tribes
remained undocumented and was lost. With
respect to folk culture, researchers restricted
themselves to the urban coastal regions, to the
rich, gold-embroidered tailored traditional
Andalusian Jews and the Ottoman Empire. By
comparison, the woollen textiles of the
peasant and nomad women appeared of
insufficient value to the country’s emergence
into modernity. And yet a Tunisian proverb
says: ‘All is vanity, except wool and grain'.
Geographically, Tunisia is characterised by
its north–south axis, with great differences
between the climatically advantaged coastal
regions and the arid mountains, steppes and
desert. Its long coastline has opened up the
country to the Mediterranean, so that it has
been influenced and formed by many cultures.
Although Berbers were the original inhabitants,
Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and French were
the major ruling peoples. However, the
influence of these cultures on the lifestyle in
the interior remained slight; only encounters
with Arab tribes had a formative effect on life
in the hinterland.
marked by a closed world view, a belief system
laden with magic, handed down for thousands
of years. It was an elemental life, embedded in
the cycle of nature. Women played a socially
important role and were honoured as creators
and nourishers. Berber culture is also associated
with a matriarchal society.
sedentary, existence of the Berbers was largely
It is as though this intimate female sphere, this
innermost space, resists an outsider’s view
1-2 Woman's shawl (mouchtiya),
Djelass, Basse Steppe, central
Tunisia, first quarter 20th
and tapestry weave, 0.95 x 2.28 m
(3'1" x 7'6"). All photos courtesy of
the Menzel Collection
Tunisian textiles Tunisian textiles88 89
henna dyes. Henna is reported to be apotropaic, which together with the
woven emblems, might suggest magical significance.
Dyeing was undertaken by women in the home. The colour spectrum
of these cloths is minimal: red, blue, black (commonly a very dark blue),
and a maroon that is often red and blue combined. White areas are either
undyed wool or the cotton that forms the pattern. The only colourful
cloths are those with red tie-dye designs, whose unusual green ground
is from overdyeing yellow with blue. Red came from kermes, cochineal,
madder, lac and henna, blue from indigo (nila). For black and maroon
they used pomegranate peel and iron sulphate. For yellow, the root of
árjâgnû, a plant commonly found in the steppe and in the south.
The colouring of the textiles is sometimes assigned to different stages
of life: uncoloured white textiles for young girls, red for young women,
and black or blue for old women. However, some regional groups use only
one of these colours, and many cloths have three, red, black and white, a
scheme known also from women’s pottery (1).
The vertical loom used is common to the whole North African area. It is
an archaic device, probably in use even before the Phoenician era. The
woven pattern consists of simple alternating float weave, braided twining,
brocading and weft wrapping (3, 9, 10). Patterns are a virtually unlimited
self-sufficient, in alliance with Arab nomads whose religion – Islam – they
had integrated into their world view. The mingling and assimilation of
the two groups had taken place centuries earlier, and many tribes have
both Berber and Arab origins (though it is worth noting that Berbers are not
mentioned in the national constitution). Ethnically clear distinction is thus
questionable, even when the decorative language of the cloths is not
Arabic. The decisive criterion for me is therefore their origin in rural life.
The main material for textile use in rural north Africa was sheep’s wool.
As in all pre-industrial societies, women were the weavers. Whether
among Berbers or the nomadic Bedouins, women were responsible for
clothing and furnishings. They protected and housed the family, the
tribe. In a life that knew no excess, everything was produced for a
particular purpose. But it was in the weavings for clothing, the protective
‘second skin’, that this female culture placed all its personal expression.
The technically most developed weaving culture is found in the
mountainous regions of the south. The old sedentary population, the
‘Jebalia’, as the Zenata Berbers are called here, have passed their traditions
down the generations. The women’s cloths are of the noblest character.
Every village in this inaccessible region has its own style.
Less accomplished weavings are also of great interest. These were
probably made by women leading a nomadic lifestyle, and perhaps also
in Arab communities attempting to imitate the rich Berber tradition.
Their spontaneous style, sometimes sketchily embroidered, has an
expressive power of its own. For me, these cloths also manifest a link
with sub-Saharan Africa, for a strong African undertone is evident.
The main material is wool, while the delicate patterns are in cotton.
Dyeing took place after weaving. The white wool cloth with patterned
areas in white cotton (sometimes pre-dyed black wool is introduced) is
placed in the dye bath with the mordant. The varying behaviour of
animal and vegetable materials is the basis for a ‘negative reserve
technique’, so called by the Basel ethnologist Alfred Bühler in his 1972
work Ikat, Batik, Plangi. The effect of this retrospective piece dyeing is
often a cloudily dramatic shading, when the dye takes unevenly, giving
the cloths a mysterious inner glow. As in colour-field painting, their
sensitive quality can be grasped only through personal encounter.
A second reserve technique, also widespread, is a type of tie-dyeing
called plangi, documented in 1925 by Prosper Ricard in his essay ‘Le Batik
berbère’, and examined in detail by Bühler. This involves a simple tying
of the woollen cloth: generally a round object, a stone or grain, is bound
into it. It is dipped into a dye bath, then the thread is untied. This leaves
the tied-off parts untouched, with a circle appearing on one side of the
cloth, and a round spot of colour on the other. Plangi is mostly found at
both ends of cloths with woven lines of pattern. Sometimes it is the only
creative element, especially in small three-colour headscarves from the
Matmata mountains (11), in headbands from the same region (5), and in
cloths from a nomadic group from the pre-Sahara zone.
Bühler points out that this dyeing method occurs only in the female
context. Most observers state that the red plangi spots are produced by
3 Wraparound garment
(houli), Chenini, Jebel
Demmer, southern Tunisia,
4 Shawl (ta'jira), probably
x 5'5")
personal encounter
5, 7-8 Shawl (bakhnough), Ksar Hallouf, Dahar,
southern Tunisia, early 20th century. Wool
with cotton brocade, circa 1.10 x 2.00 m (3'7" x
6'7"). The provenance of this type of shawl is
recorded in a rare photograph (8) taken in
southern Tunisia. It is a sophisticated and
opulent mantle, demonstrating the unlimited
possibilities, variations and combinations of
geometric design elements. The motifs come
together to form a protective network,
especially in the section covering the head and
spine. The shawl is symmetrical, yet manages
to escape the bonds of symmetry. The type has
close connections with the shawls of the
Matmata village Toujane, indicating that there
may have been tribal links between the two.
6 Headband (assaba, Berb. tassabt), Tamezret,
Matmata mountains, southern Tunisia, first
half 20th century. Wool, sprang, tie-dye, 0.25 x
2.10 m (0'10" x 6' 11")
9 Woman from southern Tunisia, recorded as
'gens de Ksar Hallouf', wearing her bakhnough.
Archive of Dar Ben Abdallah, Tunis, 1965.
Image courtesy of the photo library of the
Centre des Arts et Traditions Populaires, Dar
Ben Abdallah, Tunis
triangles, squares, lozenges, dots, lines and
zigzags, expressed within the conventions of
the group and community framework. Similar
patterning is also found in the women’s tattoos,
in their pottery and in all other artefacts of the
rural Maghreb. Some researchers refer to their
occurrence in prehistoric times. There are names
for individual patterns, but these do not reveal
the significance that lies behind them. Some
textiles also have woven figurative motifs.
In most pieces the ends are emphasised by
simple lines or with more elaborate lines of
pattern. Some cloths have patterned lines in
parallel over the whole area, others have
patterns only at the sides, but above all we find
shawls with a strong emphasis on the central
axis. When worn, the protective signs lie over
the crown of the head and along the spine, an
architectural pattern manifesting a strong
connection between spirituality and physical
reference. There are also cloths with symbols
12 Head covering (mendil, Berb.
tamendilt), Tamezret, Toujout,
Matmata mountains, southern
0.72 x 1.13 (2'4" x 3'3")
13 Matmata mountains, southern
old ksar of Beni Aissa10-11 Shawl (ta'jira), Oued el Khil,
Beni Kheddache, Dahar, southern
cotton weft wrapping, silk
1.10 x 1.47 m (3'7" x 4'10")
variants. Houli, hrem, or in the Berber language ta’oudi, are names for the
long woollen garment draped and wrapped around the body, gathered by
a woollen belt and fastened at the front with two fibula. Depending on the
height of the woman, it measures 3.5 –4.5 x 1.2 m. It is a majestic cloth
that in its ornamented woven form is known only in the mountains of
the south, and has probably long been an exclusively ritual textile (2).
The best-known form is called the bakhnoug, bakhnuk or bakhnuq (and
other variants). This rectangular woollen cloth, circa 2 x 1 m, was worn
over the head and shoulders like a protective tent. In the Sahel and Basse
Steppe a larger textile of this kind is called mouchtiya (1), and a smaller
form mendil. Almost square cloths of various sizes, worn like a headscarf,
are called ta’jira, ‘ajar, mendil (Berb. tamendilt), tarf or garn. These are often
made of wool and silk, very frequently with the addition of embroidery.
The ketfiya is a distinctive cloth in a small format of circa 0.9 x 0.4 m.
This textile was laid over the shoulder and fastened in front with a fibula,
and was intended to protect the long wraparound cloth from oily perfumed
hair. It is known above all in the mountain region of the south .
The long finger woven or sprang cloth that is wrapped around the
head as a turban is called assaba (Berb. tassabt). This archaic technique
was used by Berbers in regionally delimited areas (but is also documented
in southern Morocco). The highly elastic, net-like weaving is produced
on a primitive loom simply by criss-crossing and interlacing the warps.
I make a rough distinction between cloths from central and southern
Tunisia with technical differences. There are cloths from the Basse
Steppe and the Sahel, the mountains east of Gafsa, the Arad, Matmata
mountain country, the Jebel Demmer and the Dahar, the Nefzaoua, the
Jeffara Plain, and the adjoining Jebel Nefousa mountain region in Libya.
I assess the oldest cloths as mid to late 19th century, and the end of their
period of production as mid 20th century. This marks the last point for
field research, for there are few weavers left to provide information.
In the past few years important exhibitions have looked at textiles in
the context of modernist art. These shed light on the influence of non-
European cultures on our modernism, but none gave appropriate space
to the original material. Eurocentrism still relegates objects from another
existence to a place in the cabinet devoted to ethnography or crafts.
Tunisian state storehouses contain 1,200 women’s costumes, but it is
unclear how many are rural weavings in wool. Currently, the country
faces too many other challenges for the preservation and documentation
of the rural past to become a priority – yet this would be an important
contribution to a new, proud discovery of identity.
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women of Chenini captivate us with the
ornamental framing of an empty field (2).
In many cloths there are embroidered
inserts, often worked in silk. Needlework was
taboo for a Berber woman, and the embroideries
are mostly not abstract but narrative. The urban
embroidery culture of the coastal regions,
based on Andalusian and Ottoman models,
may have exerted an influence here, but many
systems of signs are also linked with sub-
Saharan Africa. For example, the cloths of the
Ayechi women from the mountainous district
east of Gafsa were embroidered by men. This is
also recorded for cloths from the Matmata
mountains. In the oasis of Gabes, it was mainly
black women who added the embroidery. And
Jewish women also embroidered.
functions, and were sometimes worn on top of
each other. There are regional terms and many
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