Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: November 4, 2019
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the (mostly) female hairstyle which is known as "Bantu knots" in the United States.
This post provides general information about troduction to the hairstyle known as "Bantu knots", including some information about the word "Bantu" and Bantu languages/people as well as a general description of Bantu knot hairstyles.
This post also showcases a 2015 video entitled "Wearable Threaded Bantu Knots | Protective Natural Hairstyle".
Selected comments from that video's discussion thread are included in this post. These comments are part of a somewhat contentious discussion between Caribbean, African, and African American Black women about how attitudes about wearing "Bantu knots" and other natural hairstyles have changed because it is now considered "trendy".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/11/various-names-for-bantu-knot-hairstyles.html for Part II of this series. Part II provides general information about the hairstyle known as "Bantu knots", including some information about the word "Bantu" and Bantu languages/people as well as a general description of Bantu knot hairstyles.
Part II also showcases a 2017 tutorial video about Bantu knots and includes selected comments from that video's discussion thread. Most of those comments provide names for the "Bantu knots" hairstyle in the Caribbean, and in parts of Africa. Some of those comments and additional comments document how negative attitudes about this hairstyle as well as who wears it, when, and where have changed since the early 2000s.
Some comments about the various names for this hairstyle from the video embedded in Part I of this series are also included in that post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this embedded YouTube video.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-bantu-knots-hairstyle-throughout.html http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-bantu-knots-hairstyle-throughout.html for Part I of a two part pancocojams series on that subject. That post includes comments that aren't included in this 2019 post. The link for Part II is included in that post. Part II showcases two African music videos that include women with Bantu knots & several African American tutorial videos about Bantu knots.
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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT "BANTU KNOTS" HAIRSTYLE
"Bantu knots" is a late 20th century or early 21st century American (United States) name for certain traditional African female hairstyles that had/has various names.
A 1898 photograph of a woman from Madagascar is the earliest documented photograph of the hairstyle that is now called "Bantu knots" (in the United States). Click https://www.ebony.com/style/everything-you-need-know-about-bantu-knots/ to view that photograph and read more about "Bantu knots".
Here's a general description of this hairstyle from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-textured_hair#Styling
..."bantu knots"... involves sectioning the hair with square or triangular parts and fastening it into tight buns or knots on the head. Bantu knots can be made from either loose natural hair or dreadlocks." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-textured_hair#Styling
Here's another general description about this hairstyle from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bantu-knots-mini-buns-difference_n_7452532##targetText=Bantu%20knots%20are%20said%20to,until%20they%20form%20mini%20knots. These Are Bantu Knots, Not 'Mini Buns.' There's A Difference.
By Dana Oliver, 05/28/2015 | Updated December 7, 2017
...."Bantu knots are said to have originated centuries ago with the Zulu tribes in southern Africa. They're styled by sectioning the hair into parts all over the head, then twisting those individual sections until they form mini knots."
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORD "BANTU"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantu_languages
"The term "Bantu" ... was coined (as Bâ-ntu) by Wilhelm Bleek in 1857 or 1858... to represent the word for "people" ... from the plural noun class prefix *ba- categorizing "people", and the root *ntʊ̀ - "some (entity), any" (e.g. Zulu umuntu "person", abantu "people")...
The total number of Bantu speakers is in the hundreds of millions, estimated around 350 million in the mid-2010s (roughly 30% of the total population of Africa, or roughly 5% of world population).[3] Bantu languages are largely spoken east and south of Cameroon, throughout Central Africa, Southeast Africa and Southern Africa. About one sixth of the Bantu speakers, and about one third of Bantu languages, are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone.
[...]
The Bantu language with the largest total number of speakers is Swahili; however, the majority of its speakers use it as a second language (L1: c. 16 million, L2: 80 million, as of 2015).[4]
Other major Bantu languages include Zulu, with 27 million speakers (15.7 million L2), and Shona, with about 11 million speakers."...
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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Wearable Threaded Bantu Knots | Protective Natural Hairstyle
Naptural85, Nov 2, 2015
See how to make your bantu knots look regal, and more wearable using the threading technique, I hope it helps
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
As a result of reading online articles and video discussion threads about the hairstyle that is known in the United States as "Bantu knots", it appears to me that Black attitudes in the United States and the Caribbean (and elsewhere) have changed from considering Bantu knots (and other names for this hairstyle) as a hairstyle for young girls and/or a "maintenance" hairstyle for females that is worn only at home, to a fashionable hairstyle for girls and women which can be worn with pride anywhere.
I believe that the credit for this change in attitude belongs to the Black women's natural hair movement which began in the United States and has spread worldwide.
The selected comments from the discussion thread for this embedded video provide various perspectives about this subject.
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THESE THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THIS EMBEDDED VIDEO
All of these comments except the first one are from 2016. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1. sugarwaters, 2017
"i never ever liked bantu knots as a style to wear out, but i actually think these are cute!"
2016
2. Kikster Tripster
"We called those Chiney bumps in Jamaica, and every little girl had to wear them out, not in or for a later hairstyle; so used to seeing this out!"
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3. Chinaija
"really interesting how the traditional African styles we used to get made fun of for are becoming trendy now."
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4. nelly31283
"we use to to get made fun of just for being natural. I would say that we have made monstrous progress since then. isn't it wonderful"
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5. iloverette
"Let it be "trendy" for now, at least we're embracing ourselves right? I remember getting made fun of in school for having different black hairstyles...maybe other little black girls won't have to deal with the same BS because these styles will not only be more commonplace but finally accepted as beautiful by us (black women) across the African diaspora. We just gotta accept the many things that make us unique and beautiful - things that only we can pull off."
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6. 241Genevieve
"+Chinaija I was thinking the same, but I guess its also great that others of the African diaspora are getting in touch with their "roots". I just hope that our Africans back home also get rid of the weaves and stuff, and do not see styles such as this are for poor people. Or even start styles like this again because black people in America are doing the styles :( smh we all have a long way to go"
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7. Sandie Ugo
"exactly! I did this with braids right from childhood and see it's a trend now"
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8. Chinaija
"+Sandie Ugo exactly. this is a very old technique for us, and now it's trendy."...
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9. byoung4eva1
"+Chinaija I don't think we are necessarily "getting in touch withour roots", we are just embracing our natural. For some of us, our "roots" will never be mended. So, i'm just focusing on being more aware/knowledgeable/educated on my culture as a black American. It would be cool to know where my ancestors were from in Africa, but that's not why i went natural. Idk why some Africans like to separate themselves from black Americans, by saying "traditional African hairstyle that we used to get made fun of", um excuse me, black American women wore this style as well (just not out of the house in the US, because it's "unprofessional" and "ghetto" here), we are of African descent. My mom used to put string/thread in her hair, because that’s what she was taught, her mom, her mother’s mother, etc. We don’t know where we are from in Africa, either.:
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10. drlovie
"+Chinaija I agree sis...I couldn't help but think about that. This look is now played out by "hipsters"."
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11. spainyo
"+Chinaija Certainly you can do better than this. Bantu knots aren't a trend to black americans so you may want to speak for yourself. If you look at the history of natural hair in the US and the caribbean, bantu knots are nothing new and you act like we aren't african descent. Did our families not come here from Africa? We've worn this style as equally as long as y'all have. Look up some 90's videos OR slave photos and the way women in america wore their hair in the 70's , bantu knots for days. You tried it though. You stay acting like we aren't from the same place. Thats hilarious to me"
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12. supergirl power
"+spainyo Na wa for this comments o. All she said and meant was that this hairstyle wasn't looked at keenly before and all of a sudden everyone is treating it like it's something new. She never said anything about African Americans not wearing bantu knots before or wearing their hair like this. People are reading too deep into such a simple comment. Point of the matter is, the hairstyle isn't new, and people have been wearing it for centuries. That's a fact."
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"Na wa o" is Nigerian slang (or West African slang). I'm not sure what it's meaning is in the above comment, but my guess is that it's something like "I'm really surprised that you wrote that, spainyo".
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13. spainyo
"@supergirl power
"She never said anything about African Americans not wearing bantu knots before or wearing their hair like this"
It was implied. Also Naptural is west indian not african american. I still hope folks do their homework and look up photos of women throughout the americas and caribbean during slavery with bantu knots."
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14. Called To Purity
"+Chinaija Whooo girl. You should've deleted this. People read between the lines, of the lines, of the LINES that aren't even there. My goodness. Up in arms about nothin'! Put your pistols down. Lawd have mercy. Everyone wants to talk about "what the problem really is". This whole comment section just demonstrated the problem, we're always at war with and attacking one another. Jeeze louise. So dang on CATTY. Ew. Y'all talking about some "do better..." do better FOR REAL. Talking at, instead of TO one another. So childish. Have a good day Ms. I'm sorry you have all these ladies shooting at you for no reason.
~#WhereISTheLove~"
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15. byoung4eva1
"@Zephaniah Bedford I think ppl "read between the lines" because there were other Africans at the time claiming this was their hairstyle, and now black Americans think it's "trendy" to wear. That may not have been her intent, as i see from her last comment, but her posting this at that time, was one of the reasons i responded, and told her that black Americans had/have worn bantu knots too, just not outside because of how society deems it. Many Africans have stories of being picked on/teased by black Americans for "being too African", which is why many Africans of them like to separate themselves from black Americans. I went on to say idk why Africans felt the need to separate themselves from black Americans as if we aren't the same ppl, we wear the same hairstyles, just not out in public"
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16. chgosyndicate
"byoung first of all, Naptural is Jamaican. Black Americans are the ones who revolutionized and revamped this style just like we do every other hairstyle. We've never not worn this style. Where have you lived where you don't see us wearing our natural styles in public???? You should google how many lawsuits are currently pending against schools and corporations due to us wearing our hair "outside"."
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17. byoung4eva1
"chgosyndicate First of all, Naptural is Jamaican AND Black American. I get mixed up, but I believe her father is Jamaican, and her mother is Black American, or it's the other way around. Either way, she's American, and would be classified as Black, because she doesn't know what part of Africa she's from. Idk why ppl stay trying to act like they have no ties to black Americans. Even Naptural just calls herself black. She mentioned it a couple years ago about being part Jamaican (basically black), and ppl can't seem to let that go. Second of all, i said we USED to not walk around with our natural hair because it was frowned upon, not only by society, but within the black community BEFORE this natural hair movement started. Majority of us used to walk around with relaxers, weaves, or braids. The only styles we used to "revamp" were styles that involved us straightening our hair, or adding fake hair, in some way shape or form. If this came of rude, i didn't mean it to be, peace."
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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series about Bantu knots.
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