Aesthetics, appreciation and criticism among indigenous Asante kente weavers: implications for art education and national development

This dissertation unravels the concepts of aesthetics, appreciation and criticism among the indigenous Asante Kente weavers and its implication for Art Education in Ghanaian schools and colleges as well as national development. Research has shown that, any education however “civilized” it might be which is not based on the culture of the people receiving that education is bound to produce societal misfits. The indigenous Asante Kente weavers have for several decades produced rich Kente Cloths. They have exhibited and promoted the rich Ghanaian cultural values that are embedded in their weaves. Thus, these philosophical values in the art works they produce are in the form of events, proverbs, stories, historical records and other aesthetic values projected from the cultural context. However, the researcher believes that knowledge in the concepts of aesthetics, appreciation and criticism acquired from the indigenous Asante Kente weavers is a very good source of aesthetic education in schools and colleges. Concepts of aesthetics, appreciation and criticism are areas of study in art education. Unfortunately, they are mostly neglected or mistreated art programmes. Aesthetics is a form of knowledge involving appreciation and criticism with its importance not only limited in schools but the entire community. Foreign education or Western culture has had tremendous influence on students in Ghana. It is very imperative to introduce students to African philosophy of life, especially, that which deals with the relationship between art and life in general. This research therefore, aims at discussing, analyzing and documenting the concepts of aesthetics, appreciation and criticism among the indigenous Asante Kente weavers, discussing the aesthetic values of some of the woven pieces, the philosophical concepts behind the use of the various cloths, implication for national development such as tourism and employment so as to use these concepts to augment teaching and learning in schools and colleges in Ghana. In order to achieve these objectives, the researcher in his analysis, deployed the use of The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Data Analysis Programme, especially to quantify the data. This programme was considered very helpful especially in analyzing the quantitative data. This brought very accurate information by generating tables, bar charts and percentages of ideas from respondents. A lot of essential data were collected, assessed and analysed and discussed with hypotheses tested. As discussed, qualitative and quantitative analyses were used to extract information from the data collected. The SPSS data analysis was utilized by the researcher because of its accuracy of outputs of results. The researcher also employed tools of research such as questionnaires, interviews and observation. Data were also collected from available relevant or related literature based on the topic, in the form of text books, journals, magazines, news papers, newsletters, the internet and other related sources. The stratified /simple random sampling, focused group discussion and purposive sampling techniques were used to sample master weavers, junior weavers and apprentices. In all, eighty (80) respondents were selected from a population of three hundred (300) weavers, which constitutes more than 30% of the population. These weavers were selected from 4 Kente weaving centres within the Ashanti Region. Moreover, in the case of the customers or users of the Kente cloth, questionnaires were administered to express their views on the aesthetic concepts of the cloth. The researcher also administered questionnaires each to experts of art education (including directors of education, lecturers, etc.) and students for enhancement of this dissertation. The researcher in his efforts therefore, arrived at several findings based on objectives and other vital information, yielding new knowledge for the benefit of art education and national development. These major findings include: The indigenous Asante Kente weavers have their own criteria for assessing the beauty of their Kente Cloths; they have their own terms for beauty and criticisms; have special names and symbols for cloths; for centuries they project cultural and historical values through indigenous arts including Kente cloths in the sense that events, proverbs, beliefs and folktales in the past were recorded in their cloths; that their cloths reflect intrinsic and other extra-aesthetic values - they are seriously integrated with various Ghanaian events and celebrations; they serve as great legacy, national identification and a sign of prestige, cultural preservation. The study of the indigenous Asante Kente cloth will promote and enhance aesthetic education in Ghanaian schools and colleges, national development through employment, exports and tourism; Knowledge about Kente cloth discussed in the thesis is an expansion of knowledge about Kente cloth in general as well as exposure about other cultures. The researcher has therefore, provided useful recommendations in the text. The teaching and learning of aesthetics, appreciation and criticism should be strengthened in schools and colleges bearing in mind the socio-cultural underpinnings of these concepts.

Source: KNUST