The Bluest Hands By Judith A Byfield Summary

Judith A. Byfield, a historian and professor in African history, describes in her book, The Bluest Hands, the role women had in the adire indigo dyeing industry in Abeokuta, a Yoruba town, located in southwestern Nigeria. Byfield argues that the adire industry flourished from 1937-1939 but the industry was unable to sustain itself due to social and economical reasons. Byfield supports her argument by providing strong evidence in the forms of interviews, documentary sources, and annual reports. Even though the adire industry was affected by the delay of cocoa, the increase of European fashion and the lack of support from the alake, the adire industry has not been extinguished or forgotten to many individuals. One reason, the adire industry was unable to sustain itself was caused by the cocoa holdups from the Gold Coast. The top consumers that purchased the adire fabric were visitors that
Byfield mentions that the desire for brighter colored fabrics did not occur due to colonialism but occurred as early as the fourteenth century. Different regions in Africa preferred exported fabrics from regions such as India, Japan, the Netherlands, etc., because these cloths contained a unique blend of colors and fabrics which many more people preferred. Adire fabrics were assumed to only be for the poor so this classification also led to the decrease in popularity of the adire fabric. It is understandable why the people perceived the adire cloth to portray the poor because now throughout many regions in Africa the towns people were witnessing a new European style. However, Byfield states, “By the 1960s adire products also began to experiment with different colors” ( Byfield 212). This demonstrates that even though the adire industry was not as successful as it was before women years later were attempting to improve their business because to them it is still very