Processes Deployed in Construction of Ghanaian Traditional Costumes in the Technical Universities in Ghana

Celestine Elikem Dzitse, Dr. Gladwell Mbugua

Costume Construction Processes, Ghanaian Traditional Costumes, Fashion Design and Technology, Technical Universities

Even though multiple studies have been done on traditional costumes in most developed countries over the years, only a few of such studies have been done in the context of Ghanaian Traditional Costumes. Specifically, not a single study is found on construction of GTCs in Ghana and the need of emphasis of GTCs over western costumes as part of the Fashion Design and Technology programme (FDP) in Technical Universities in Ghana. This study sought to investigate the processes employed in construction of GTCs in fashion design and technology programme in the TUs. It adopted convergent mixed method design through which qualitative and quantitative data was collected from students, lecturers and HoD affiliated to six out of the ten TUs in Ghana: Accra, Kumasi, Sunyani, Cope Coast, Tamale and Ho. Target population was 1265 comprising head of departments (HoDs), lecturers and students. Simple random sampling was used to select six universities from the ten TUs. Purposive sampling was used in sampling 24 lecturers of fashion design including HoDs, and Proportion sampling was used to sample 306 FDSs. Total sample size was 330. A combination of descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis was used to interrogate relationships between processes employed by lecturers and construction of GTCs. The results showed that the lecturers employed R-T-W production processes in teaching construction of Ghanaian traditional costumes. However, there were numerous challenges in the efforts to promote construction of the GTCs. Therefore, the study concluded that addressing the challenges can enable more constructions of the GTCs by the students during and after graduation from Fashion Design and Technology programme.

https://doi.org/10.31871/WJRR.17.4.6