New Basketry in Kenya

Abstract

Plastic woven baskets and bags from Kenya have now made their appearance in the United States. Purists may deplore the use of man-made fibers in traditional handwoven containers, but the fact remains that polyethylene materials like vinyl have replaced plant materials in certain parts of East Africa, that a nylon thread called manila, imported from Korea, is preferred to Kenyan makonge, or sisal, and that acrylic yarn is being substituted for sisal and baobab-bark string. When strips of plastic wrap became the latest popular weaving material in Ukikuyu and Ukambani (Central and Eastern regions of Kenya) about three years ago, it constituted a drastic change in a series of changes that the basket (in Kikuyu, kyondo, pl. vyondo; in Kamba, chondo) has undergone with accelerated speed since the 1960s. The first major change in basket weaving occurred at the beginning of this century with the introduction and development of sisal plantations. Makonge replaced a variety of plant fibers, for example, what is called in Kikuyu mugumo, mugio, and murinda, and in Kamba mukiswa and kindiio. Today, the last traditional natural material still in use is the finely chewed baobab-string, muambwa, employed by Kamba weavers living between the towns of Makindu and Mtito wa Ndei in Ukambani. Even so, baobab baskets are