The World of Wax Print: 10 Skills in 90 Seconds
· Episode 7 of 10
Episode 7 / 10
What Patterns Mean: Symbolism and Naming Conventions
A wax print design has one factory code but is sold under different names in Ghana and Nigeria. Why does this happen, and what does it mean for researchers studying the fabric?
Pattern names are assigned by market traders and consumers, not factories — so the same design accumulates different culturally situated names by country, language, and community. Researchers must treat each name as local knowledge rather than a universal identifier, because the same physical cloth carries different social meanings in different contexts.
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