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Stitching Womanhood in the Zongo: Seamstress Apprenticeship in Accra

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2022

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Abstract

Focusing upon the daily lives of young female Muslim apprentices in the sewing shops of Accra’s zongo communities, Cassiman argues that the sewing workshop may be understood as a playground in which young women may experiment with the normative chronologies shaping women’s lives, and with ideals of female respectability, self-making, and autonomy. Opening up the possibility to subvert the chrononormativity of apprenticeship and marriage, young seamstress apprentices carve out a platform from which they can exert specific forms of agency, by suspending marriage or hastening it, while trying out various possible futures.

Résumé

Résumé

En se concentrant sur le quotidien des jeunes apprenties musulmanes dans les ateliers de couture des communautés zongo d’Accra, Cassiman fait valoir que l’atelier de couture peut jouer le rôle d’un terrain de jeu au niveau duquel les jeunes femmes peuvent expérimenter les chronologies normatives qui façonnent la vie des femmes, avec des idéaux sur la respectabilité féminine, la construction de soi et l’autonomie. Ouvrant la possibilité de subvertir la chrononormativité de l’apprentissage et du mariage, de jeunes apprenties couturières se taillent une plate-forme depuis laquelle elles peuvent exercer des formes spécifiques d’actions, en suspendant ou en précipitant le mariage, tout en expérimentant avec un éventail de futurs possibles.

Resumo

Resumo

Cassiman debruça-se sobre a vida quotidiana das jovens mulheres muçulmanas que trabalham como aprendizes nas lojas de costura das comunidades zongo em Acra, argumentando que as oficinas de costura podem ser entendidas como espaços de preparação nos quais as jovens mulheres testam as cronologias normativas que enquadram a vida das mulheres, bem como os ideais de respeitabilidade, autoformação e autonomia femininas. Ao abrir a possibilidade de subverter a crononormatividade do tirocínio e do casamento, as jovens aprendizes de costureira constroem uma plataforma a partir da qual podem exercer formas específicas de agência, seja suspendendo ou antecipando o casamento, ao mesmo tempo que experimentam vários futuros possíveis.

Keywords

apprenticeshipmoral personhoodmarriageplayHausazongoAccra (Ghana)
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 642 - 668
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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