A Kuba Raffia Cut-Pile Textile from the May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection

The May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection at Loyola University Chicago contains thousands of objects, including numerous textiles. This report discusses one specific textile housed in the collection. The object is a raffia cut-pile cloth from the Kuba Kingdom of modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo. This report details the specific description, materials, and creation techniques of the object, as well as attribution of its cultural group, function, and date of creation. The object is further contextualized through the discussion of cultural production and usage of textiles among the Kuba. This includes their ritual and economic uses, as well as their changes over time. Additionally, the textile is discussed in terms of Kuba pattern conventions and the meanings that are associated.