Blonde Roots

Wealthy and powerful Ambossans telegraph their status to the community by dint of expensive jewelry, and so in Blonde Roots, jewelry represents class status. Bwana and his wife, Madama Blessing, wear prominent gold jewelry, including things like gold chains, ruby-encrusted diadems, and rams-head pendants. Other wealthy Ambossans, like Ezinwene, have gold-crowned front-teeth. And in the shops of Doklanda, Doris sees golden, jewel-encrusted manacles and chains with which wealthy enslavers can bedeck their enslaved workers on festive occasions. This in particular marks an extreme level of excess, marrying the symbols of wealth and power (wealth and power that is built on the stolen labor of enslaved people) with the chains of domination.

Jewelry also helps the different ranks of enslaved people to differentiate themselves. Doris’s lover, Frank, carves her a simple bracelet out of wood to show his devotion. Although they’re both relatively privileged as skilled laborers (Doris as Bwana’s personal assistant, Frank as a master carpenter), they are still neither free nor wealthy enough to afford nicer materials. In contrast, one of the markers of the elevated position of Iffianachukwana (formerly known as Sharon Scagglethorpe) as Bwana’s mistress is her jewelry, which includes gold earrings, a nose ring, pendants, bracelets, and rings. Yet, she is not free, unlike Madama Blessing, so her jewelry is more like the gilded manacles in the shop than anything else.