«Surprise Me»
The Social Practice of Wearing a Kanga




The moment you step foot on the island of Zanzibar, you’ll notice a colorful garment that is popular all over the Indian Ocean coastline: the kanga. It contains a distinct message long before any designer even considered slogan T-shirts and inherits an often coded, but also playful or witty inscription. It has become an integral part of Zanzibari cultural practices, especially for women wearing a kanga who use it as a tool for indirect communication. Wearing a kanga is like wearing your heart on your sleeve.The kanga is an inexpensive garment. It consists of a wider border, the colorful pattern, and the writing (called jina). The jina often quotes a Swahili saying. An appealing message is the main reason why women buy a kanga,  either as an act of self-expression, or as a gift to send a message. It is the same reason why husbands buy kangas for their wives. Because the text is always coupled with a specific pattern, to wear a kanga inherits the meaning of the message being communicated.
When a wife wants to let her husband know to never even think about having a second wife, he might be presented a kanga that says: “Mke mwenza!! haa!! mezea!” “Mezea!” is Swahili slang for “Just swallow it!” and can be interpreted as “Forget it!” Another kanga hint how a woman wants to be treated is “Kantangaze” (“Surprise me”). A kanga also may transport disappointment: “Nilikudhani dhahabu kumbe adhabu,” “I thought of you as gold, but you are such a pain.” These sayings can have a significant social impact and change behaviors: there are kangas which discourage abusive marital behavior. Kangas are said to be especially effective in situations where we find a hierarchical relationship between the interactants. 
The kanga demonstrates the importance of the cultural practice of clothing in society, as it can play a role beyond mere fashion statements: “They touch a special place, not only the mind but also emotion (…) it has the power to make people think.

“Suprise me” - The Social Practice of Wearing a Kanga is part of the Fotobook Dummy “I Thought of You as Gold but You are Such a Pain”