{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.016216216216216217, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.256756756756757, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Senegalese weavers' ethnic identities, in discourse and in craft

Weavers in northwestern Senegal consider their weaving work to be a practice of their specific identities. Weavers at the two group workshops in Poponguine, a small town in this region, create notions of their ethnic identities through discourse about their craft work, added to their very practices of creating art. They both put their identities into practice and contribute to regional understandings of ethnicities through processes of arts production. They argue that they weave just as their ancestors wove, in service of their community. Because they use a wide handloom, however, their argument about ethnic heritage seems contradictory to those who use the West African strip loom. By analysing both material and discursive ethnographic data, this article explores both the contradictions and the coherence in claims of ethnic heritage in craft work.