Wearing What Cannot Be Spoken Page 9

Heritage in our Clothing

Kanga cloth is dear to Swahili women because it depicts them as literate to observers. In Nungwi Village, kanga is the primary garment for women even though less than 5% of women in the village can read and write. Reported one informant (July 2007),

"We love kanga because it is our traditional garment. Our grandmothers used to wear it and they passed it to our mothers, our mothers passed it to us, and we shall pass it on to our daughters. It is a decent garment; it covers the body of a woman and preserves her dignity."

 

Nungwi Women Wearing Kanga

For over 100 years, kanga cloth has persisted as the favorite cloth for Swahili women. An average woman's active wardrobe includes at least 15 pairs of kanga. 

 

Posing as Literate in Nungwi

The woman in the center is wearing her kanga inside out, so that the message is backwards. She may be unaware of it, possibly illiterate. This matters not, however, if her peers are equally illiterate and unable to reveal her secret.

 

Women at National Celebration for Zanzibar heritage

Kanga is the official outdoor garment for village women in Zanzibar.

Photos on this page by Rose Ong'oa, 2007.

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