Talk:Kanga (garment)

Untitled
I've started a new article here, moving the old one on kanga, kikoy and kitenge to East African garments. As I've said elsewhere, I don't particularly like that name but it was ill-named anyhow, as the article was about more than only the kanga.

Structure
This is a many-sided topic, and to write a truly good article we'll need to think about the structure from the beginning. I think we need at least information on the following topics:


 * History
 * Anatomy (not the best name perhaps, I mean terms like pindo, mji, jina)
 * Manufacture (Where does the fabric come from? How is the print added? What kind of people make the designs?)
 * Designs
 * Economical background (a lot of printed textiles are imported; are there also local manufacturers?)
 * The kanga as a vehicle of communication

Is that everything? And what is the best way to structure this? Thanks for weighing in! &mdash; mark &#9998; 16:23, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Illustration
I just added an illustration, see Image:kanga.png. I think I'll give it a more interesting design at a later point, but this is the idea. &mdash; mark &#9998; 21:03, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I added a photo of kangas on a clothesline that I found on Flickr. Frankly, I didn't see a lot of these until I crossed into Bukoba, but is the garment in Image:Zanzibar woman.jpg considered a kanga? - BT 14:17, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
 * It's difficult to see, but it might be two of them (they are often combined). However, it could just as well be some other dress. &mdash; mark &#9998; 15:19, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

this article is missing some basic informatin
So how do you wear this thing??? 216.165.95.70 (talk) 20:13, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

spelling
It starts out as 'kanga' then becomes 'khanga' - which is right? Johnalexwood (talk) 00:45, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Background info dump
I used to have a subpage for this. Not anymore. So I'm dumping the information below for anyone who wants to expand the article based on the sources cited. &mdash; mark &#9998; 09:57, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * It's cheap
 * Always sold in pairs (Yahya-Othman 1997:137)
 * 'Women buy kangas'with the same enthusiasm that they buy other garments, often and with great care, but because kangas cost much less than, for instance, a dress, some women can afford to buy many more, and often do so 'for a rainy day'. Kangas are often exchanged as presents between women, and men may give women kangas, but very rarely the reverse.' (Yahya-Othman 1997:137)

History

 * Hassan O. Ali says that Kanga's originated on the Swahili coast in the mid 19th century. However, he also notes that there are various versions of the history of the Kanga, citing the Australian journalist Troughear who doesn't think that the Kanga originated in Zanzibar. In fact, one of the most thoroughgoing studies of the Kanga, Hongoke (1993) holds that the kanga was brought to the East African coast by Indian and Arab traders around 1860. Yahya-Othman largely passes by the question of the origin, although she notes that 'the kanga was in the past confined to the coastal communities, but is now worn throughout Tanzania'' (1997:137).

The kanga as a vehicle of communication

 * The seminal study is Hongoke (1993), which investigates over a thousand kanga messages collected over a period of time, along with over five hundred interviews with both men and women, in five regions of Tanzania. According to Yahya-Othman, Hongoke (1993) focuses predominantly on the negative role of KNs, as a source of conflict and the degradation of women (1997:141).
 * Yahya-Othman 1997:138: 'The utteranceship of KNs [kanga names, md] is also demonstrated in the occasional response issuing from onlookers, as evidenced in several cases I observed where other women said (after reading the KN aloud):
 * Na kweli! [True indeed!]
 * ''Hapo umesema! [Now your're talking!]
 * Usinambie! [Don't tell me!]
 * Wala si uongo! [You lie not!]


 * Yahya-Othman invokes Brown & Levinson's (1978) theories of indirectness and politeness, noting that the communicative act in this case is essentially and indirect one. As she says, 'the politness of KNs does not lie in the content of the message, which can be extremely blunt, aggressive and even obscene, but rather in the redressive action that the addresser takes in providing herself, and consequently her addressee as well, with an out. She has always the option of denying that she intended the KN for any particular person, and thereby save embarrassment not only to herself, but to her supposed addressee as well.' (1997:140).

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 4 external links on Kanga (African garment). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://www.webcitation.org/69pcPEZ7C?url=http://www.erieartmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibits2008/kanga/documents/Translations.pdf to http://www.erieartmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibits2008/kanga/documents/Translations.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110719110029/http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/SwaFo/swafo8/8_14_beck.pdf to http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/SwaFo/swafo8/8_14_beck.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100203175335/http://www.erieartmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibits2008/kanga/kanga.html to http://www.erieartmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibits2008/kanga/kanga.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110516235011/http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/SwaFo/swafo4/4_10_Othman.pdf to http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/SwaFo/swafo4/4_10_Othman.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 22:58, 5 December 2017 (UTC)