Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how ankara fashion performances in Nigeria and Brazil manifest cultural identity and empowerment. Drawing on the Yoruba philosophical concept of axé, it uncovers ankara's performative power, shaping identities and political and fashion narratives.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the interplay between ankara and fashion performances in Nigeria and Brazil, shedding light on the manifestation of cultural identity, empowerment, and self-making through the use of ankara. Originating in the 19th century, this Euro-African cloth became popular in West Africa has transcended to various countries in the African Diaspora. Drawing parallels between Yoruba performances and the concept of axé (vital energy), Victor Turner's definition of performance and Judith Butler's concept of the performative, the study elucidates how ankara performances serve as transformative expressions in Nigerian and Brazilian landscapes. Positioned at the nexus of staged acts and bodily gestures, fashion performances with ankara showcase the power of axé in the cloth, animating patterns and interacting with social spaces.

The paper argues that the axé present in ankara and latent in the Black body animate the patterns while interacting with the social spaces. Rooted in African elements, these performances create a tangible bodily image, suspending and breaking roles to declare self-transformation publicly. The axé confers the energy of Africanness to the material, enacting the African identity in the performances and materializing the connection between the diaspora and Africa, thus serving as a tool of cultural identity expression and political agendas and supporting one in their journey through self-identification as Black. Through fieldwork in Nigeria and Brazil, the paper scrutinizes contextual variations, contributing to an understanding of ankara as a potent force shaping diverse identities and narratives.