Becoming a competent weaver: information literacy practice of the weavers of the Bonwire Kente Centre in Ghana
| Date | 06 December 2022 |
| Pages | 898-921 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2022-0159 |
| Published date | 06 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Franklin Gyamfi Agyemang,Nicoline Wessels,Madely Du Preez |
Becoming a competent weaver:
information literacy practice of the
weavers of the Bonwire Kente
Centre in Ghana
Franklin Gyamfi Agyemang
St. Joseph’s College of Education, Bechem, Ghana, and
Nicoline Wessels and Madely Du Preez
Department of Information Science, University of South Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose –This study examines what constitutes competence and how a novice becoming a competent weaver
is enabled by information literacy in the fabric-weavers’workplace landscape.
Design/methodology/approach –Ethnography as a research design was employed using participant
observation and semi-structured interviews as the data collection techniques.
Findings –Competence constitutes the demonstration of Kente knowledge and mentorship capability enabled
by information literacy through access to the on-the-loom and off-the-loom information in the Kente-weaving
landscape.
Research limitations/implications –This study explains how the transition from a novice weaver to a
competent weaver is underpinned by information literacy.
Originality/value–This is one of the first studies that contribute to the understanding of information literacy
in the craft workplace. The study proposes a framework for weavers’information literacy practice.
Keywords Information literacy, Craft, Hand-woven fabric, Informal workplace, Kente, Weaving competence
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
This study reports on a doctoral study that investigated competence in a fabric-weaving
landscape from the socio-cultural perspective to information literacy. The socio-cultural
perspective has shown a constitutive relationship between knowing and information literacy
(Hicks, 2019;Lloyd, 2017;Lloyd and Wilkinson, 2019). It provides a conceptual explanation of
information literacy as knowing through situated processes and practices in a setting. Thus
information literacy enables one to know what an information landscape entails and how to
develop the competence of an information landscape (Lloyd, 2006,2017;Lloyd and Wilkinson,
2019). An information landscape is conceptualised as the contextual communicative space
reflecting the acceptable forms and sources of information that are understood by people who
share a practice (Lloyd, 2010b).
From the practice theoretical lens, information literacy unfolds as a “cultural and a
transformative process”in making a novice an expert in a specific context (Lloyd and
Somerville, 2006, p. 188). Becoming information literate (that is to know) in a context means
novices connect to the practices of the workplace to access the shared practical knowledge
and understanding (Fafeita and Lloyd, 2012;Lloyd, 2006,2009;Lloyd and Somerville, 2006).
Information literacy studies from the socio-cultural perspective have been conducted in
various contexts focussing on the formal and semi-formal contexts (Bonner and Lloyd, 2011;
Lloyd and Somerville, 2006;Lloyd, 2009). There have been virtually no literacy studies
examining the informal context, for example, the craft (artisanal) context, and fabric weaving,
JD
79,4
898
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 21 July 2022
Revised 28 October 2022
Accepted 30 October 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 4, 2023
pp. 898-921
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-07-2022-0159
to be specific, which has resulted in minimal information on how fabric weavers engage with
information in practice. It is on this ground that this study sought to understand what
constitutes competence and how a novice becoming a competent weaver is enabled by
information literacy in the Bonwire Kente Centre in Ghana. The Bonwire Kente Centre is an
informal workplace landscape where Kente, a hand-woven fabric is produced in Ghana.
To address the research objective, Lloyd’s (2010a) framework for information literacy
practiceand Lave and Wenger’s(1991)situated learningtheory were integratedand employed
as the conceptual framework for this study. An understanding of workplace information
literacy wouldhelp in understanding how competenceis enacted in the Bonwire Kente Centre.
2. Elements in the Bonwire Kente Centre
The weaving context is characterised by the action of interlacing lengthwise (vertical) yarns
and crosswise (horizontal) yarns at a perpendicular angle to produce a fabric (Adanur, 2001;
Temesgen, 2019). The lengthwise yarns are called the warp, whereas the crosswise yarns are
the weft (Temesgen, 2019). In the Bonwire Kente Centre, there are three levels of weaving
practitioners in the Bonwire Kente Centre: master, junior and novice weavers (Sabutey, 2009).
Some of these weaving practitioners have familial ties to the weaving landscape that go back
many generations.
The practices (techniques) of the weaving context include warp preparation (warping),
weft preparation (winding yarns on the bobbin), picking, reeding, shedding, beating up,
heddling and tying up (Adom, 2016;Amissah and Afram, 2018;Temesgen, 2019). The
materials and tools used in the Kente-weaving landscape include looms, heddles, pulleys,
bobbins, shuttles, reeds, swordsticks, treadles, bobbin winders and yarns (see Figure 1).
There are various patterns in the Kente-weaving landscape. Amongst these colourful
patterns are Babadua, Nkyimkyim, Rotoa, Akonya, Aky«m, Apr«mu and Npoankron (see for
example Figure 2).
Figure 1.
Parts of the loom
Information
literacy
practice of the
weavers
899
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