Documenting the endangered traditional broom and fibre rope crafts of the Urhobo people of Nigeria

PI: Julius Arerierian | Collaborators: Akpobome Diffre-Odiete, Augustine Oborakpororo Omohwo, and Oghenenyerhovwo Odogun
Project ID: 2019SG01 | Location of Research: Eghwu, Delta Region, Nigeria | Host Institution: South-Western Edoid Institute

The barks, roots, stems and leaves of plants in the Niger Delta wetlands are integral in the crafts of Nigeria’s Urhobo people, a culture that spans the country’s Delta Central Senatorial district. One such example is the wetland erhọ flax plant, which constitutes traditional fibre rope. Meanwhile, the oil palm frond fashions into the domestic broom. Urhobo artisans and laypeople have a demonstrated ability to tell local fibre objects apart from foreign lookalikes.

Since the introduction of synthetic nylon, polyester, and polypropylene rope and brooms, the practice of using natural materials has begun to disappear. Given the plural domestic and religious uses of these objects and their importance to Urhobo identity and heritage, the project seeks to document the fibre crafts before they vanish altogether.

Methodology

The project combines unstructured interviews, participant observation, and audio, visual, and audiovisual recording to document the production processes. The resulting dataset covers rope and broom production from resource harvesting through production to object use. Fieldwork began in October to follow the harvest cycle of the flax plant.

Selected Assets

The following provide a sample of the project methods and chaîne opératoire.

Acknowledgements

The success of this project would not have been possible without the contribution of institutional staffers Oghenetega Kregidi and Benefit Ochuko, who assisted with photography, video recording, and ELAN transcription.