Olufemi Adetunji
Doctoral Researcher, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia
Textile Making in Changing Climate in South-Western Nigeria
Olufemi Adetunji is an academic at University of Newcastle, Australia where he is conducting practice research. He is also involved in engaging communities and cultural/creative organisations in leveraging culture, art and heritage for sustainable development of communities.
Within South-Western Nigeria, various communities are involved in adire, batik, woven, ankara and several other traditional textile making technologies. Communities such as Abeokuta, Oyo, Osogbo and Ado-Ekiti are known for ankara, adire and woven textile making, using of materials and equipment that a sourced from the local resources such as dye, local cotton etc. However, many of the local resources are depleting due to changes in rainfall pattern, temperature, depletion of local sources of water and other impacts of climate change. In Abeokuta, for instance, many of the textile weavers have abandoned making adire due to depletion in raw materials such as cotton, dye and water.
This discourse seeks to examine the impacts of the changes in climate on traditional textile making in communities across South-Western Nigeria and develop strategies to adapt to the impacts in view to conserve the indigenous knowledge and practice involved in traditional textile making.