In many West African societies, it is women who represent ”modernity” in their private sphere. They accomplish this by accumulating an immense amount of industrially manufactured products in their domestic sphere; mainly acquired as marriage prestations, e.g. dowry. The first generation of these objects came from European, American or Asian centres of production. In Nigeria they began to be manufactured since the early 1950s – made of plastic, tin, enamel, and glass. The great attraction of these objects becomes evident in the fact that nowadays one hardly finds any household without these mass-produced articles, both as prestige articles or objects of daily use.
At first sight it could be assumed that integration of these objects into the Muslim cultures of Northern Nigeria has lead to a cultural standardisation in a region where prior to the introduction of industrially produced objects, regional and ethnic style differences became evident also in locally produced goods. But with a closer analysis of this cultural change one can observe that these ”European objects” were not simply adopted without modification. Instead, their form, their function and meaning have undergone changes, in order to be acceptable for new uses and different lifestyles.
These processes of appropriation are the focus of the research project carried out by Editha Platte. Although the anthropologist is working in northern Nigeria since 1986 on different topics, e.g. material culture, gender and women studies, migration and popular culture, the main activities for the project were carried out since 2001.

Publications of E. Platte on materiel culture studies:
1991 Kanuri-Töpferei – Eine Frauensache. MA-Arbeit, Frankfurt a. M.
1992 Remarks on Kanuri Pottery. In: Borno Museum Newsletter 10: 5-12
1995 (mit H. Thiemeyer) Ethnologische und geomorphologische Aspekte zum Bau von Brunnen und Getreidespeichern in Musune (Nordost-Nigeria). In: Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268, 5: 113-129
1996 (mit N. Cyffer, D. Löhr, A. I. Tijani) Adaptation and delimitation – Some thoughts towards the Kanurisation of the Gamergu. In: Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268, 8: 49-66
1997a Kommentar zu Form und Funktion der systematischen Aufnahme und vergleichenden Analyse prähistorischer Gefäßkeramik. In: Archäologische Informationen 20/2: 259-262
1999c Afrikanische Keramik in der ethnographischen Sammlung des Frobenius-Instituts (1952-1993). in: Tribus 48: 127-146
2001b Vom Umgang mit Massenwaren. Aneignungsprozesse in nordnigerianischen Frauenräumen. In: Karl-Heinz Kohl und Nicolaus Schafhausen, New Heimat. 124-133, New York: Lukas & Sternberg
2004e Massenwaren in Nigeria Von Plastikwasserkesseln, Himmelbetten und Töpfen. In: www.journal-ethnologie.de, Januar 2004
2004f Towards an African Modernity Plastic pots and enamel ware in Northern Nigerian women's rooms. In: Paideuma 50: 173-192

Contact
Dr. Editha Platte
Frobenius-Institut
C/o Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a.M.
Grüneburgplatz 1
60323 Frankfurt a.M.
www.Frobenius-Institut.de

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