Bamileke
AfricanHat, late 19th - early 20th century
Not on view
Fabric
Dimensions9 × 9 in. (22.9 × 22.9 cm)
Museum purchase, 2000.70
Among the Grasslands cultures of Cameroon, men are expected to wear head coverings in public, both as part of their daily dress and for special festivals. This hat, called an ashetu, would have been worn for ceremonial purposes as part of dress code indicating social status. The two sections of small nodules separated by a striped center band indicate that an elite member of society wore this hat.
It is a knit cotton cap covered with a pattern of small knit sleeves, which have wooden plugs inserted into them from the inside to make them stick out. These knit projections represent the tufted or tightly braided hair that was once common among high-ranking men in Cameroon.
