The Village of Basketry

Changes and Continuities of a Local Industry in Northeastern Ghana

Haruka Ushiku

• Publisher: Trans Pacific Press
• eBook ISBN:
  9781920850623
• Year: 2026

Bolga baskets— handwoven baskets originating in a rural region of northern Ghana— are sold in markets across Europe, North America, and Japan. How did a locally made craft from an African village come to circulate globally as a commodity? Village of Basketry offers an in-depth ethnographic and economic analysis of the Bolga basket industry, tracing its transformation from a subsistence-based local craft into an export-oriented industry. Focusing on the lives of basket makers, traders, and intermediaries in the Bolgatanga region, the author examines how craft production changed— adopting, adapting and accommodating shifting technologies, raw material supplies, and market structures. Beyond production and trade, the book explores how artisans negotiate the tensions between a monetized market economy and local values, ways of working, and modes of living. By examining everyday practices— making, sourcing materials, selling, buying, and mediating transactions— the study reveals how local society is reshaped through engaging with global markets. Grounded in detailed fieldwork, this volume illuminates the social processes through which " the world" becomes present in a rural African community, offering fresh insights into globalization, craft industries, and the lived experience of economic change.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• List of Plates
• About the Author
• Preface: The Village of Basketry
• Preface to the English Edition
• Notes on this book
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Life and Industry in Bolgatanga
• Chapter 2. The Transformation of Basket Weaving in Bolgatanga
• Chapter 3. Weaving Techniques: Changes and Continuity
• Chapter 4. Material: Reorganization of the Material Supply Chain
• Chapter 5. Make a Living: Basket-Weaving in Village Life
• Chapter 6. Buy and Sell: Local Transaction System
• Chapter 7. Bridge the Gap: Practices of Brokers
• Conclusion
• Afterword
• Bibliography
• Index