The African Bark Cloth Is Au Naturel

Barkcloth is a cloth produced by stripping lengths of bark from the mature mutuba tree, which grows easily in the fertile central southern region of Uganda, where it has been produced for centuries. After the removal of the bark the tree trunk is wrapped for protection, typically in banana leaves, which grow nearby, allowing another bark to grow, to be harvested again and again on an annual basis for up to 30 years. The lengths of stripped bark are cleaned of the outer layer, boiled or steamed, then beaten for several hours with a graduating series of heavy carved wooden hammers, causing the fibres to stretch up to five times in width and about one tenth in length. The production of cloth from strips of bark is a skilled male occupation which was traditionally passed from generation to generation.

Barkcloth has been utilized for a variety of purposes. For everyday use, bark cloth was utilized for dress, especially for maintaining distinctions between members of royalty and commoners, as well as gender distinctions, and for storing valuable objects and for bedding. It was used for economic purposes, as a trade commodity, as tribute given to the kabaka (king) and chiefs, and as part of the dowry given by a man to the woman he wished to marry and to her family. It also played an important role in burials, as bark cloth was used for wrapping the bodies of people (both royals and commoners) who passed away, and for lining the walls of royal tombs and serving as a screen (to shield the deceased kabaka from public viewing). Barkcloth was and continues to be used for ceremonial purposes, particularly for succession rites among royalty and commoners. 

The arrival of European colonizers in the latter half of the 19th century had an impact on bark cloth production as well as attitudes towards it. Barkcloth production was obstructed when the British introduced cotton farming in 1902 to the Kingdom of Buganda. The cotton grown there was intended to supply the British textile industry. Colonial administrators, missionaries, and local chiefs who benefited from working with the colonial administration were instrumental in promoting (and even coercing) the Buganda people to cultivate cotton. Barkcloth production was set back, as the process of cultivating and harvesting cotton was time-consuming, and coincided with the harvesting of bark.

The wearing of bark cloth took on a different meaning towards the end of the British colonial rule: a symbol of allegiance to the kabaka and a symbol of protest against the colonial administration. Despite efforts to discourage and disrupt the production and consumption of bark cloth in the 19th and 20th centuries, backcloth continues to be made today. While it has been used for a variety of purposes historically, its utilization has expanded to create other products, like blazers/jackets (as seen above), handbags, belts, pillows, wall hangings, placemats, and car seat covers.