The Material Agency of West African Wild Silk: An Ethnographic Exploration into 
Marka-Dafing Conceptions of Sheen

Douny, Laurence

doi:10.14890/jrca.21.1_291

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The Material Agency of West African Wild Silk: An Ethnographic Exploration into Marka-Dafing Conceptions of Sheen

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Douny, Laurence
Department Artifacts, Action, Knowledge, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Douny, L. (2020). The Material Agency of West African Wild Silk: An Ethnographic Exploration into Marka-Dafing Conceptions of Sheen. Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology, 21(1), 291-313. doi:10.14890/jrca.21.1_291.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0010-7895-F

Abstract

This paper explores the material agency of West African wild silks by inquiring into local conceptions of the material with regard to its production and consumption in Marka-Dafing
communities in Burkina Faso. By transcending common notions on aesthetics and materiality of silk, the paper investigates its cultural significance and delves into Marka-Dafing’s material epistemology and cosmological
implications of the sheen of indigenous silks. In Marka-Dafing communities, the sheen of wild silk is embedded into people’s social, natural, and spiritual world. Hence, this paper presents
an ethnography of wild silks materials that helps uncover silks’ cultural meanings as a manifestation of complex networks of
material and power intra-relations. This paper examines the efficacy and agency of sheen by focusing on wild silks’ material properties and qualities that allow people to engage with the
invisible world as a means of empowering the self, gaining social visibility, and resolving social disputes.