Lesson Plan: The Impacts of the Secondhand Clothing Market in Accra, Ghana

Course Title

HA 239 History of African Textiles and Fashion

Professor Kristen Laciste
Semester: Spring 2024

Course Description

Organized geographically, this course provides an overview of the diverse forms of dress, adornment and fashion found throughout the African continent, primarily from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.  In addition to challenging stereotypes regarding African modes of dressing and explicating relevant, culturally-informed concepts including dress, undress, fashion, and textiles, this course will explore African textiles and how they have been reinvented and/or reimagined by contemporary, African-based fashion designers and other artists.  Individual lectures will focus on specific textiles, their manufacture, social/cultural/political significance, and how their multilayered meanings have contributed to the expressions of African-based fashion designers.  Issues such as colonialism, independence/post-colonialism, tradition and cultural appropriation will be addressed directly and indirectly throughout the course.  Field trips to relevant museums will allow students to view historical textiles, such as kente and bogolan cloth, alongside both African designer garments and European designs inspired by African cultures.  Ultimately, this course illustrates the vibrancy and diversity of Africa’s dress culture, in both historical and contemporary contexts.

This lesson plan was developed for WEEK 14 of the course:

Before coming to class, students read two short pieces about secondhand clothing markets in Africa, particularly in Zambia and Ghana, and completed questions related to those readings.

Hansen, Karen Tranberg, “Secondhand Clothing and Fashion in Africa.” In Contemporary African Fashion, edited by Suzanne Gott and Kristyne Loughran, 39-51. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2010.

  1. Fill in the blank: “The international secondhand clothing trade is about _______, not _______.”
  2. What contributes the “largest single source of the garments…[to] the international trade in secondhand clothing”?
  3. What happens to “poor quality, worn, or damaged garments”?
  4. Which countries are the largest exporters of secondhand clothing? And which countries/places import secondhand clothing?
  5. What is meant by the term, salaula?
  6. What does the author attribute the “enormous cross-over appeal” of secondhand clothing in Zambia to?

Franklin-Wallis, Oliver. “What Really Happens to the Clothes You Donate.” GQ. July 20, 2023.

  1. What is the largest secondhand clothing market in Ghana?
  2. What does Obroni wawu mean, and what is the origin of this term?
  3. What happened to local Ghanaian textile manufacturing sectors when secondhand clothing entered the market?
  4. What is The Revival, and who are its co-founders?
  5. Who are the kayayei?
  6. What percentage of clothing arriving in the largest secondhand clothing market in Ghana “immediately becomes waste”?
  7. Who are the bola boys?

After reviewing the readings by answering the questions, I screened the following documentary: The environmental disaster fuelled by used clothes and fast fashion | Foreign Correspondent

Then, we discussed the following questions based on the documentary:

  1. What kinds of jobs has the secondhand clothing trade provided to people in Accra, Ghana? 
  2. Which jobs seem to be taken up by men, and which jobs seem to be taken up by women? 
  3. What are some of the challenges or risks associated with each job?
  4. What are the positive and negative outcomes of the secondhand clothing trade?
  5. Do you think that the importation of secondhand clothing should be banned in Ghana? Why or why not?
  6. Can you think of any ways to creatively use secondhand clothing so that it does not end up as waste?
Categories: Lesson Plans