Description

The kanga is a piece of cotton fabric originally worn by women of the East African coast. It is disputed among scholars whether the cloth is named after the spotted guinea fowl, represented by spots on each kanga; or indeed, if the name is just a coincidence. The word kanga is also synonymous with kisutu and leso. Having said that, in the 80s in Mwembe Tayari Market in Mombasa, there used to be a stall selling only 2nd hand kangas it referred to as Lesos interestingly and not kangas or visutu. When I asked the owner the reason for this she said Leso for her meant 2nd hand. More intriguingly for me these cost a 3rd more than new ones and did not have to be sold in pairs either. Therefore, the author would appreciate any comments on this from readers. Its main cultural significance (apart from being an item of clothing), is to spread messages. These depict day to day real life situations. For example these could be polite or impolite; real or imagined; happy or sad; religious or political; celebratory or general; romantic or spiteful and clever or witty. Also, Kangas often portray a general message in the overall design which may or may not be supported by a written message. It is for this reason that kangas without scripted messages are known as kanga bubu, or speechless kangas. Which cannot be strictly true if we understand that the aesthetic message underlies the kanga and also that cultural interpretations do not have to be vocalised. However, current usage of the kanga, is diverse. Men women and children wear them, either in full or cut into items of clothing like hats shirts and trousers. For example, the Maasai men use the fabric as a wrap/shuka because of the colourfulness. And the Barotse of Zambia prefer the softness of the kangas to make the liziba suits. These are worn during the Kwomboka ceremony. In both cases just mentioned, the Maasai and the Barotse do not necessarily pay much attention to the messages of the kangas. The messages were originally in Arabic script and this continues to be the case in the Arabian Peninsula but in East Africa these days the kangas are usually in the Roman script. While most kangas are written in Swahili some kangas portray touristic sentiments in English (usually for the purpose of being used as souvenirs). For example, 'From Africa with Love' as seen elsewhere in Languagebox, where I have attempted to group the kangas under relevant general topics. This said, it is virtually impossible to give just one meaning to each saying on a kanga or to place sayings under strict topics. This flexibility in turn provides for a wider sense of interpretation.

Resource details

Added By:	Ms Wambui Wa-Ngatho
Added On:	28 May 2012 15:44
Creators:	Wambui Wa-Ngatho
Tags:	favor, swahili
Languages:	Swahili, English
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