Doek

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A Ghanaian woman wearing a gele
An elaborate head tie worn by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia
Ivoirian woman in a head-tie
Hausa woman wearing a daurin dankwali
Woman with a headtie in Gambia

A head tie, also known as a headwrap, is a women's cloth head scarf that is commonly worn in many parts of West Africa and Southern Africa. The head tie is used as an ornamental head covering or fashion accessory, or for functionality in different settings. Its use or meaning can vary depending on the country and/or religion of those who wear it. Among Jewish women, the Biblical source for covering hair comes from the Torah in the book of Bamidbar Parshas Nasso which contains the source for the obligation of a married woman to cover her hair. An eesha sotah is a woman whose husband suspects her of having acted immorally. The Torah commands the Kohein to take various steps to demonstrate that the sotah has deviated from the modest and loyal path of most married Jewish women (Rashi 5:15-27). Among the procedures, the pasuk clearly states: "ufora es rosh haisha..." and he shall uncover the hair of the head of the woman (5:18). One can only uncover something that has previously been covered; in this case the Torah is referring to the married woman's hair.[1] Among Christian women in certain parts of the world, such as Africa and the Caribbean, the head tie is worn as a headcovering in obedience to 1 Corinthians 11:4–13.[2]

There are varying traditional names for headties in different countries, which include: Moussor (Senegal), Gele (Nigeria)[3][4] Duku (Malawi, Ghana), Dhuku (Zimbabwe), Tukwi (Botswana), Doek (South Africa, Namibia)[5] and Tignon (United States)[6] Jewish women refer to their head ties as a tichel or mitpachat.

West Africa

Among the Wolof and Mande peoples of West Africa, women’s headties express fundamental notions of propriety and are often indicators of a women’s status of marriage. According to anthropologist Mary Jo Arnoldi, these notions are thought to have been influenced by Islam which has a long history in this area.[7]

In Nigeria, Yoruba women are renowned for tying extravagant head ties that rise several feet off their head.[8][9] This practise sprang from traditional Yoruba thought systems about reverence for the Ori, which the Yoruba see as a principal deity or Orisha who resides inside the head.[9][10]

The beautification of the head was seen as an extension of honor to the deity within, an honor to society at large, and a protection, based on cultural superstitions which warned that those who did not cover their head could have their secrets exposed. The culture birthed from this tradition cultivated a patient and artistic form of self expression with headties known as the Gele lit.:to be elevated.[11][12]

Wearing a Gele isn't limited to any special occasions, it can be worn to the market, to visit friends, or any ongoing events. It is made from the myriad of fabrics Yorubas use for their traditional outfits, but Aso-oke is the most common.[10] Though the Gele is an original Yoruba headtie, its influence has spread all over Nigeria.[4] Notable observations were made by anthropologists like simon ottenberg who in 1955 documented Igbo women in the Afikpo area of Nigeria wearing the Yoruba head tie after national exposure,[13] The Gele was also reportedly introduced to the Hausa 1940s by a Yoruba trading family in Zaria City,[14]

Some scholars, such as Nicole Willson and Georgia Scott, say that Yoruba societies set a cultural precedent for headwrapping traditions across the African diaspora.[15] And in places like Texas, with a large Nigerian-American population, weddings draw participation from African-Americans who seek to maintain an african identity with the use of african textiles like the Gele.[10]

Among the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria, scarves are known as the ichafu lit.:cloth, from Chiffon[16] (also rendered ichafu isi or akisi).[17][18]

A head tie common to the Hausa in Northern Nigeria is known as the Daurin dankwali.

A comparative analysis was made in Nigeria by Nicholas Freville, he documented that, in contrast to the Gele that made Yoruba women identifiable at a distance, Igbo women and girls wore notably simpler headscarves.[8]

In Ghana, opportunity to wear a duku usually falls on a religious day of Friday, Saturday or Sunday. This depends on whether the wearers are Muslim, Seventh-Day Adventists or Sunday church-going Christians.

Senegalese women used to cover their hair and ears in day-to-day activities or special events such as baptism or wedding ceremonies, or during prayers with colourful headties called Moussor. The headties were made of different fabrics with different patterns and could be styled in a variety of ways from the simplest to the most intricate.

Southern Africa

In South Africa and Namibia, the Afrikaans word doek (meaning "cloth") is used for the traditional head-covering used among most elderly local women in rural areas. With the spread of Protestant Christianity by Dutch settlers and their descendants (Afrikaners), along with the custom of Christian women wearing head-coverings in church, the word was adopted into other southern African languages. Malawian head-ties (duku) are usually small and conservative compared to the Nigerian style. Zimbabwean head-ties (dhuku) are similarly smaller, albeit tied a little higher. Botswanan head-ties (tukwi) are also typically wrapped shortly and often with a prominent knot.

Outside of church contexts, women wear doeks at special events like birthdays, weddings and funerals. Urban women with plaited hair also wear a doeks when visiting rural areas out of cultural respect. In addition, a woman may wear a doek during sleep to protect the hair.[19]

In South African church services women may wear white "dukus" to cover their heads. At the International Pentecostal churches in South Africa, married women wear white 'dukus'.

The Shangaan women in Zimbabwe and South Africa wear 'dukus' as fashion accessories.[20][21] At other social gatherings in Zimbabwe women may wear a dhuku.[21]

According to Professor Hlonipha Mokoena of the Witwatersrand Institute for Social and Economic Research,[22] historically the doek or headscarf was imposed on black women in many colonies by convention or by law as a way to control the sensuality and exoticism that "confused" white men.[23] 2016 saw a resurgence of wearing doeks through the #FeesMustFall movement among students around South Africa.[24][25]

See also

References

  1. Reiss, Breindy (28 June 2012). "The Torah Source For Covering One's Hair". Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  2. Lum, Kenneth Anthony (18 January 2000). Praising His Name In The Dance: Spirit Possession in the Spiritual Baptist Faith and Orisha Work in Trinidad, West Indies. Routledge. p. 224. ISBN 978-1-136-76630-5.
  3. Taylor, Ken; Williams, Victoria R. (2018). Etiquette and Taboos around the World: A Geographic Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Customs. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-4408-3820-0.
  4. Stylianou 2016, p. 41.
  5. Ogan, Amma (18 September 2016). "Lupita Nyong'o, Who Designed Your Nigerian-Style Head Tie?". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  6. "Tignon Laws: Policing Black Women's Hair in the 18th Century". amplifyafrica.org. Archived from the original on 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2021-09-03.
  7. Arnoldi & Kreamer 1995, p. 127.
  8. Freville, Nicholas (1999). Nigeria. Major World Nations. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 22, 23, 25.
  9. Arnoldi & Kreamer 1995, p. 139.
  10. Lynch & Strauss 2014, p. 129.
  11. Earle Chase, Pliny (1865). "On the Comparative Etymology of the Yoruba Language". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 13: 54. doi:10.2307/1005346. JSTOR 1005346.
  12. Arnoldi & Kreamer 1995, p. 145.
  13. Ottenberg, S (1955). "Improvement Associations among the Afikpo Ibo". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 25: 23. doi:10.2307/1156893. JSTOR 1156893.
  14. Hansen, Karen Tranberg; Madison, D. Soyini, eds. (2013). African Dress: Fashion, Agency, Performance. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-85785-381-3.
  15. Willson, Nicole (2022). "Sartorial insurgencies: Rebel women, headwraps and the revolutionary Black Atlantic". Atlantic Studies. 19 (3). doi:10.1080/14788810.2021.1908790. Retrieved 2026-05-28.
  16. Nnebedum, Theodora Ngozi; Onuora, Ngozi Theresa; Obiakor, Ethel Ebere (2018). "Igbo Language Borrowing: An Implicative Approach" (PDF). IDOSR Journal of Arts and Management. 3 (1): 52–62. ISSN 2550-7974.
  17. Dictionary of Ibo Language: English-Ibo. Lagos: Church Missionary Society Bookshop. 1923. p. 72.
  18. Ozah, Marie Agatha (2010). "Can We Dance Together? Gender and Performance Space Discourse in Égwú Àmàlà of the Ogbaru of Nigeria". Yearbook for Traditional Music. 42. Cambridge University Press: 21–40. JSTOR 41201378.
  19. "African Head Gear and African Identity". Global Black History. 2016-06-13. Archived from the original on 2020-03-07. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  20. ""Shangaan Woman"". Evan Church. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  21. D., Cannon (19 April 2000). "Culture of Zimbabwe". Winthrop, Iowa: East Buchanan Community School District. Archived from the original on 16 July 2004. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  22. "Hlonipha Mokoena". WiSER. Wits Institute for Social & Economic Research, University of Witwatersrand. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  23. Khoabane, Rea (31 January 2016). "Doeks: mark of a good woman – or a bad hair day?". Sunday Times. TimesLIVE. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2017.
  24. Khoabane, Rea (2 June 2016). "The doek - more than just a fashion statement". Sowetan LIVE. Tiso Blackstar Group. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  25. Pumza Fihlani (11 June 2016). "How South African women are reclaiming the headscarf". BBC News. Johannesburg.

Bibliography