Improve your search results

Improve your search results

by | Tips for collectors

how to improve your search results

Jewellery search terms

Updated Jan 18, 2024

There is a world of information available on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as an abundance of photographs and pictures. But how to find these? Here are my two main tips, and a resource to help you get started!

Tip 1: expand your search beyond English

To get better search results, a first must is expanding your search terms beyond English. Let me explain (and of course I’ve got you covered!)

What are jewellery items actually called in Arabic or Tamazight, for example? Additionally, there is an entire world of German, French, Italian and Spanish museums and collectors, who have online databases available or share their items on platforms such as Pinterest. Getting a handle on these helps you expand your search results.

And there is a certain logic behind it, too.

Understanding the world behind search terms

Ethnic jewellery items have ended up in a variety of countries, and it’s here that expanding your search terms beyond English comes into view.

Not just because jewellery items were sold to Western people, but also because Western languages remained in use in occupied countries.

Egyptian antiquaries, their country for a long time having been controlled by the British, offer their wares mainly in English, while French is the predominant Western language in the Maghreb. So you see how even something as seemingly innocent as jewellery search terms reflects colonial structures, something to be actively aware of.

Knowing all this means you can start to use search terms strategically to gain an overview beyond language barriers that have since divided the information available on this jewellery. The pieces themselves have been scattered around several continents and their stories are told in different languages: adopting an integral approach in your research is essential.

Tip 2: spelling variations

The other trick is to take spelling variations into account. Say what?  I promise it makes total sense!

The original names of things are in another language entirely: Arabic, Tamazight, Hebrew…These languages have their own script and their own particular sounds. When they are rendered phonetically in a Western language, that invariably results in a gazillion ways to spell a word.

Take the Arabic word for ‘market’, for example. You’ll find it as souk, souq, suq, suk, soek, and so on. The well-known hand amulet is known as hamsa, khamsa, chamsa, khoumsa, khmissa….you get the idea.

Try fiddling around with spelling variations: you might be surprised at the difference in results!

And like I said… I’ve got you covered!

Search terms in 7 languages? Yes please!

To help you get started with exploring the world of jewellery in other languages, I have compiled a free resource of basic jewellery terms in 7 languages. With an introduction and pointers as to spelling variations, and a series of sheets to create your own cheat sheet. These will get you on your way to see search results that searching in one language would never present: find it here!

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Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Can I wear ethnic jewellery?

Can I wear ethnic jewellery?

by | Opinion

appropriation or exchange

Can I wear jewellery from other cultures?

Updated Jan 11, 2024

This is a question I get a lot: from dancers, from jewellery collectors, from people interested in other cultures. And the follow-up question is often ‘….or is that cultural appropriation?’In this article, I’ll give you three pointers to reach an informed decision for yourself.

I also get asked ‘why does this matter? It’s simply cultural exchange!’ – well, yes and no. There is a difference between the two, and, being a historian, I’d like to explore that, too. Because that difference is very relevant to how we look at jewellery from other cultures.

So here we go!

Awareness of cultural appropriation in jewellery

Obviously, being aware of cultural appropriation is extremely relevant when working with heritage of other people, and that includes jewellery. But what is, and what is not, cultural appropriation is the subject of ongoing debate.

There are many aspects to cultural appropriation that need to be considered, and there is not a single, straightforward, open-and-shut definition of this complex reality. [1] The point where cultural exchange turns into cultural appropriation, is often oversimplified by presenting these two concepts as equal: ‘People using elements from other cultures is normal. Just look at history!’

I feel that is cutting corners, and so I’d like to explore that statement a little further.

Historic exchange of jewellery styles

Let me be clear: throughout history, cultures have always assimilated elements from others. I talk at length about cultural exchange and influences over the course of millennia in the e-course on History myself for example, and it is actually one of the elements of adornment and dress that I enjoy the most.

Jewellery is a visual testimony to exchange and adaptations, and it is through jewellery that we can literally see how cultures influenced each other. If we never assimilated anything from other cultures, we would probably still be stuck in prehistory.

Change and exchange are normal. They are the one constant throughout millennia of human cultural expressions.

But in my opinion, that is not what cultural appropriation is.

How to recognize cultural exchange

When you look at history, you’ll see that cultural exchange often is for the long run. An assimilated element is here to stay: it becomes fully engrained in the other culture. As such, it may change form, meaning and significance on the long term.

That may be as status symbol at first (‘look what exciting new material I have!’) [2] or hesitantly (‘this might be the fashion of those new people, but I’m not having any of it’)

Cultural exchange does not even have to come about peacefully: it’s not all trade, commerce and marriage, but also wars, conquest and colonization.

Whatever the many machinations of cultural exchange, the end result is often that the assimilated element has become an integral, living and changing part of its new culture, so much so that it in turn may be passed on to yet another culture. Like jeans, or the paisley motif.

How to recognize cultural appropriation

Cultural appropriation, on the other hand, is using something from another culture fleetingly. There are four basic symptoms to recognize this.

1 Short term. One element is taken out of its context and used on a temporary basis, like a pattern in a seasonal fashion collection. It never becomes an integral, living and changing part of its new culture. Like Madonna wearing Amazigh attire for her birthday party: a single occasion without investment in amplifying Amazigh voices (at least, that I know of!).

2 Unequal power dynamic. The party that takes the element, has a bigger platform and more resources than to the party that it is taken from. Think major brands, popstars, but also countries: rebranding heritage dress and adornment to fit a new narrative is a very vicious way of silencing and erasing the culture of entire populations.

3 Profit. There is usually a very clear element of profit for one party. That can be exposure, but of course clearly also financial profit.

4 No fair share or credit. The party that the element is taken from, is not credited, consulted, or sharing in the profit or exposure that the other party generates.

Cultural appropriation is purposefully taking an aspect of another culture to use that for one’s own gain, without credit or a firm grasp on what this actually means in and to its original culture. It is performative only, not intrinsically meaningful.

That is why it is offensive and hurtful: it reduces the values of an entire culture to a quick and profitable fashion or performance statement. It gets even worse when the element is misattributed to another people entirely. More about that is here.

Wearing jewellery from other cultures is not automatically ‘cultural exchange’.

In some cases, the ‘historical cultural exchange’ argument is actually enabling a harmful power dynamic to continue. It’s washing over a deliberate form of capitalizing with an acceptable varnish of culture: it’s historic, so it’s fine.

To me, that is a disregard of history itself. First, there are so many examples of historic realities that are anything but fine. And second, an oversimplification like this shows a lack of understanding of historic processes.

But take note: that argument is valid in the other direction as well.

Not everything adopted from another culture is automatically ‘appropriated’, either: those slow wheels of history are still turning. When cultures get in contact with each other (and we are now more than ever, through social media and the Internet, but also through migration), they will slowly and inevitably absorb elements from one another.

The point is to keep a watchful eye out for fleeting usurpation in an unequal power dynamic with profits flowing in one direction only.

And still, the lines between exchange, appropriation and appreciation are blurred. Cultural appropriation is a multi-faceted topic with many layers. That does not make it any easier, but it should not be brushed aside with a simple ‘it’s the way of history’.

So, can I wear jewellery from other cultures? 

Here are three pointers to make an informed decision.

Is it not authentic, but newly made and inspired by other cultures? Ask if the culture that the jewellery is based on, is acknowledged, shares in the profit or has been compensated for their collaboration in the design. This is particularly relevant for larger brands: small businesses will usually tell you what their core values are and where their cultural inspiration comes from. (although, be advised there are small businesses that shamelessly steal designs from online images, so it never hurts to ask!)

Is it authentic and clearly from a particular culture? Consider your pieces as part of that larger cultural context. Inform yourself about the culture this jewellery comes from as well as its cultural significance. If you’re buying jewellery from a seller in its culture of origin, ask after its meaning, its name and its history.

Treat jewellery respectfully. This is a total no-brainer, but you don’t want to be wearing antique jewellery carrying religious texts pinned on your butt, for example. Basically, you’d want your grandmother’s personal items being treated with love and respect, too, after all, and that is no different for other people’s grandmothers.

With awareness and acknowledgement of the culture your pieces come from, understanding their cultural significance and using your platforms to be vocal about both, you can do both: admire and celebrate beautiful pieces and support and amplify the voices of communities whose heritage this is!

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References

[1] An excellent start is this blog, or this one

[2] Wolfgang Grulke shows such incorporation in his book Adorned by Nature

See also this two-part blog by Jenna Nordman on intellectual property and commercial cultural appropriation.

The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.

Cultural appropriation vs appreciation

Cultural appropriation vs appreciation

by | Opinion

basics you need to know

Cultural appropriation vs cultural appreciation

Updated Jan 11, 2024

Cultural appropriation: you have probably heard a lot about it in the context of ethnic jewellery, but what is it, exactly? And what is the difference with cultural appreciation? This quick overview gives you the basics.

What is cultural appropriation?

Cultural appropriation refers to the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of another culture, without proper understanding, respect, or permission.

It often involves an unequal power dynamic in which the appropriating culture has more power and privilege than the culture being appropriated. It may result in the trivialization, exoticizing or misrepresentation of the appropriated culture and its elements.

What is cultural appreciation?

Cultural appreciation refers to the respectful and informed understanding and engagement with elements of another culture. It involves learning about and gaining an understanding of the cultural context, history and significance of the elements in question, and being vocal about these.

Appreciation involves a deeper understanding and respect for other cultures, putting these cultures centrally, and amplifying their voices.

What is the main difference between appropriation and appreciation?

Basically, the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation is the context in which the elements of the culture are used, and the intent behind it.

Cultural appropriation is often done with little regard for the culture being taken from, and is exploitative or disrespectful. Think fashion houses adopting styles or motifs without acknowledging, crediting and supporting the cultures they are traditionally used in.

On the other hand, cultural appreciation is based in respect and understanding, and aimed at actively supporting the culture borrowed from.

Of course, the field of cultural appropriation is endlessly more complex than these three points. So this blog continues with the question ‘Can I wear ethnic jewellery?‘ in which I explore the difference between appropriation and appreciation further, and also discuss the role of history!

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References

An excellent start to read more is this blog, or this one.

The Atlantic discussed the difference in this article

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

What’s in a name?

What’s in a name?

by | Opinion

jewellery and identity

What’s in a name?

Updated Jan 24, 2024

One of the most complex issues when working with jewellery is how to put the origin of a piece into words. Looking at a hallmark is only the beginning. The hallmark systems, which operate on a national level, can inadvertently be counterproductive in attributing jewellery: when a piece is hallmarked in one particular country, this does not mean that the type is exclusive to that country.

There is much more to the identity of a jewellery piece: who made it, who wore it, where, and when. Here are some thoughts on how we identify jewellery and from which point of view we do that.

A Ouled Nail Bedouin woman and silver bracelets.
A foulet khamsa from Morocco, with a bright green glass cabochon.

Which name to use: the issues with countries

In most jewellery books, you will find pieces of jewellery assigned to a particular country. That seems rather straightforward, but is in reality quite complicated. Most of the borders delineating countries we know today have come into existence after World War II and the various wars for independence. These borders are disputed in several cases, too.

So especially when a jewellery piece is a little older, the country as we know it today may have had a different geographical range, may not have existed at all when the piece was made or may have been colonized after the piece was made.

Modern state boundaries also cut through age-old systems of exchange and cultural space: they have been conceived on the drawing board during colonial times. That is reflected in their straight and angular lines, disregarding natural boundaries such as rivers or mountain ranges that defined cultural spheres of contact.

Identities: cities, towns and tribes

Arbitrary though they may be, modern borders have a compartmentalizing effect: national identity does not always take transnational identities into account. Sometimes, this even leads to disputes about whether a piece of jewellery is, for example, Moroccan or Algerian, Algerian or Tunisian.. But that distinction is not always relevant, because a piece of jewellery can be both: the particular Amazigh tribe that makes use of it, may very well live in more than one country.

So, when referring to countries, it is always important to remain aware that these are countries as they are now – and that countries are not equal to cultures.

That is different for cities and towns. These may be older than the country they are currently located in. Cities and towns also cater to a larger clientele.

An example are the bracelets shown above: these were made in Cairo, and worn in Sinai, southern Palestine and southern Jordan. The Bedouin that purchased these bracelets inhabited this large area, which now consists of three different countries.

So do we call it an Egyptian bracelet, because it was made there?

A Palestinian bracelet, because it was worn there?

Do we call it Israeli or Jordanian, even though the bracelet was made before these countries themselves existed?

Or is it a Bedouin bracelet, because these are the people of whose culture this was part?

Identities: religion and movement

Another aspect of identification is often religion. This is where it gets even more complicated, especially in the sphere of creation. Many master craftsmen of jewellery were Jewish, but does that make a piece they created Jewish, too? Craftsmen catered to clientele from all religions, throughout history.

An example are the two Coptic silversmiths living in Bahariyya Oasis, Egypt, who created jewellery for an almost exclusively Muslim clientele. Are their pieces Christian?

And what to think of itinerant craftsmen, who traveled through a, sometimes vast, region to create jewellery for a variety of patrons? Is their nationality, tribal affiliation or religion even relevant to the identity of the pieces they made, just because they made them?

It is – when the jewellery they make serves to explicitly identify its wearers as belonging to a certain group. And that brings me to the topic of identity.

Jewellery and cultural identity

I believe the key is to understand how jewellery is very closely linked to identity. Now ‘identity’ is of course a notoriously fluid concept, interpreted differently depending on context.

But the picture that emerges is that the backbone of identity often is the locality or tribe a person belongs to, with religion coming in second and expressed in significant, but relatively small differences in dress and adornment, and modern nations following only after that.

Jewellery worn by Jewish, Christian and Muslim women can be completely identical, because they both live in a region with a certain notion of what ‘their’ jewellery looked like. The foulet khamsa shown above for example was worn by women of all three religions in a certain region of Morocco – read more about this ornament here.

So, when determining where a piece is from, I feel that all these factors should be taken into account instead of just pinpointing an origin in a country as we know it today.

There is the question of where it was created and by whom, who would have been wearing it and in which geographical range, and where it eventually was sold.

A piece can be simultaneously Yemeni and Saudi when it’s part of a community living on either side of a modern border. It can be Jewish and Islamic when created by a Jewish craftsman for a Muslim patron.

All of these aspects form part of the identity of the piece, and together they paint a much more vivid picture of the people who wore these multi-dimensional pieces. Trying to classify a piece as exclusively this-or-that ultimately says more about us, than about the wearers themselves.

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Find out more about the changes over time in jewellery and identity in the e-course on History of Jewellery!

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Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Imaginarium

Imaginarium

by | Reviews

dreaming our futures out of our past

Making the Postcard Women’s Imaginarium

That personal adornment is heritage, will come as no surprise if you have been following this blog for a while. But what does that heritage mean to the communities that it belongs to, that produced it, that lived with it? The publication Making the Postcard Women’s Imaginarium. Dreaming our futures out of our past is a brilliant volume that questions, reverses, challenges and above all, deeply loves. It accompanied the exhibition held in London in the autumn of 2022, curated by Salma Ahmad Caller, which showed a variety of artists’ responses to the way in which their communities have been represented in the West.

 

Making the Postcard Women’s Imaginarium

Essay and work by Crit Team

Essay and work by Afsoon

Essay and work by Alia Derouiche Cherif

First off, what is an Imaginarium? The explanation on the back cover reads: ‘A place devoted to the imagination. An imaginarium is richly coloured by those who are doing the imagining.’ So, is all of this imagined? Yes and no. The heart of this project is formed by the many colonial postcards that have been produced of women in North Africa and Southwest Asia. These are images of women as Western photographers imagined them to be, part of an imaginary ‘Orient’ that mainly existed as counterpart to the West. But these women, however much they have been made to pose and dress (or undress) in a certain way, were real. They were someone’s mother, sister or daughter. Who were they? What did they want, believe, hope? The project centers around these women from three angles: throwing light, casting doubt, telling tales.

The Imaginarium-book is edited by Salma Ahmad Caller, who is also the curator of the exhibition and the creator of the project. She has worked with artists, researchers, writers, scholars and consultants, who each have their own relation to the postcard women, the past and the cultures that they come from. How we look at these images is shaped by our own lives, histories and cultural context, and so this book contains a caleidoscopic ensemble of personal interpretations and views. I will share a few of these next.

The essay and art by Hala Ghellali, Colonial Postcards from Libya. Reclaiming the songs of our heritage, is a very personal account of how research into postcards turned into a way of honouring and reclaiming heritage, and personal adornment in particular. She reconnects the silver jewellery items to their world of poetry, songs, experiences among women and shares with us how she feels about these postcards and how her art interacts with both these images, her personal experiences and her heritage. Hala has a book coming out on Libyan silver jewellery soon, and having read this powerful essay, I can only be grateful she will be sharing more of her research with us.

Ariella Aisha Azoulay contributes an essay in the form of a letter to one of the postcard women: a personal, intimate account of her own life and experiences blend in with imagined aspects of the life of the addressee, Mme Cohen. Enaya Hammad Othman writes about the representation of Palestinian women both by colonizers and nationalists: her observation that after a century of representation, women themselves are increasingly expanding their control over the meanings of cultural clothing (p. 100) reminded me of the work of Wafa Ghnaim of Tatreez and Tea. Alia Derouiche Cherif places the well-known photographs of Tunisian women by Lehnert & Landrock in a new context by juxtaposing it with the experiences of a descendant of the Ouled Nail in today’s Tunisia (p. 92). Afsoon, in her essay Somewhere between here and home, reflects on how these women have never consented to their image being shared so widely as they are now. In her art, she ‘nests’ them in things they might find familiar, such as jewellery, henna, beads, patterns and colours, in order to bring a little of ‘home’ to them. (p.33)

Reading this book has introduced me to many realities that exist besides the images that we are so used to seeing because they are shared over and over again. It caused me to question the realities that I am familiar with, and urged me to keep trying and imagine these in another light. The book addresses the effects and the pain of colonialism, racism and oppression, but what you will notice in every page, every artwork, every word, is love. This book and this project have created a space where the postcard women finally can feel safe and protected, where they are surrounded by gazes not looking for what might be gained from them, but what can be done for them: cover them, shield them, enhance them, adorn them.

If you want to start grasping how personal appearance matters personally, culturally, socially, historically, artistically, and how it is most definitely relevant for our world today, I highly recommend you to peruse this book: not just to read, but to take in the many layers of meaning in the artworks presented as well. A beautifully designed book that will get you thinking, questioning, and hoping.

Making the Postcard Women’s Imaginarium. Dreaming our Futures out of our Past. Curated and edited by Salma Ahmad Caller, 2022.

Full colour, 118 pages, in English. Published by Peculiarity Press

The book was a much loved gift from Salma Ahmad Caller.

More books on the importance of jewellery as carrier of identity and as a historic source? See my picks for you here! To get regular updates when a new book is presented, why not join the Jewellery List and have them sent to you…?

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. She considers jewellery heritage and a historic source. She has authored several books on jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, and on archaeological jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the Society of Jewellery Historians, the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, among many others. She curates exhibitions and teaches online courses on jewellery from North Africa & Southwest Asia.