This article deals with the communicative uses of the printed wrap cloth kanga. Specifically I will show how the kanga is constituted as a communicative sign and is at the core of ambiguation processes that are pervasive to this communicative genre. Because of its high degree of ambiguity the question arises whether we can, for communication by way of kanga, still speak of communication in any sense. In my opinion, we can only do so if it is possible to analyze the communication process within existing models of communication. Starting from the hypothesis that the kanga indeed has communicative potential communication is understood as social interaction, whereby the focus is not solely on meanings in a pragmatic or semantic sense, but rather on social meaning, i.e. the negotiation of relationships between the interactants in an area of tension between individual, social and cultural interests (within which meaning in a linguistic sense does play a role, too) (Anderson & Meyer 1988, Burgoon et aL 1996). This will be shown in the fust part of the analysis. In the second part of this article I will describe and explain the role of the medium kanga within this process of ambiguation. This article is based on material collected during two field periods in 1994/ 1995 and 1996 in Mombasa and, from 1995 onwards, in various archives in the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Women in East Africa appear to be in a unique position worldwide: their everyday dresses are not only significant in their habitual textile codes, but also as textures exhibiting meaningful verbal elements in complex density and seemingly endless variety These textual elements are proverbs or proverbial phrases written in Swahili, which seem to interact with the colour and design of the cloth (termed kanga), being either abstract or figurative in ornament, which the female wearer may choose according to cunent personal and interpersonal dispositions The paremiologist will find a traesury of signs, texts and contexts, which extend the conventional notions of literature and the verbal arts It appears rather curious to the reviewer that the Swahili proverb cloths have only recently come into scholarly focus, perhaps because of the meanwhile more advanced studies in gender relations and popular culture (though, for instance, truck slogans as another medium of proverb-like sentences were already recorded some 30 years ago)

As with other women`s garments, the kanga has always been closely linked with the perceptions and attitudes that the society has about women themselves. These perceptions and attitudes continue to shape and determine the place of women in their socio-cultural context. Just as women`s clothes are often taken to define, if partially, the beings that occupy them, similarly, in characteristically wearing certain garments and not others, women then assign to those garments what is perceived to be their `feminineness`. In Tanzania, the kanga indexes this `femininity` in a strong way, in spite of the fact that men also wear it. Even more so, the messages that appear on the kanga are viewed as a uniquely female form of communication, and women in Zanzibar, the area covered by this study, have been making increasing use of them as an additional strategy which allows them to make strong statements about their concems, while at the same time avoiding any direct conflict which may arise fiom their individual actions.

As with other women`s garments, the kanga has always been closely linked with the perceptions and attitudes that the society has about women themselves. These perceptions and attitudes continue to shape and determine the place of women in their socio-cultural context. Just as women`s clothes are often taken to define, if partially, the beings that occupy them, similarly, in characteristically wearing certain garments and not others, women then assign to those garments what is perceived to be their `feminineness`. In Tanzania, the kanga indexes this `femininity` in a strong way, in spite of the fact that men also wear it.

As with other women`s garments, the kanga has always been closely linked with the perceptions and attitudes that the society has about women themselves. These perceptions and attitudes continue to shape and determine the place of women in their socio-cultural context. Just as women`s clothes are often taken to define, if partially, the beings that occupy them, similarly, in characteristically wearing certain garments and not others, women then assign to those garments what is perceived to be their `feminineness`. In Tanzania, the kanga indexes this `femininity` in a strong way, in spite of the fact that men also wear it.

This article deals with the communicative uses of the printed wrap cloth kanga. Specifically I will show how the kanga is constituted as a communicative sign and is at the core of ambiguation processes that are pervasive to this communicative genre. Because of its high degree of ambiguity the question arises whether we can, for communication by way of kanga, still speak of communication in any sense. In my opinion, we can only do so if it is possible to analyze the communication process within existing models of communication. Starting from the hypothesis that the kanga indeed has communicative potential communication is understood as social interaction, whereby the focus is not solely on meanings in a pragmatic or semantic sense, but rather on social meaning, i.e. the negotiation of relationships between the interactants in an area of tension between individual, social and cultural interests (within which meaning in a linguistic sense does play a role, too) (Anderson & Meyer 1988, Burgoon et aL 1996). This will be shown in the fust part of the analysis. In the second part of this article I will describe and explain the role of the medium kanga within this process of ambiguation. This article is based on material collected during two field periods in 1994/ 1995 and 1996 in Mombasa and, from 1995 onwards, in various archives in the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Women in East Africa appear to be in a unique position worldwide: their everyday dresses are not only significant in their habitual textile codes, but also as textures exhibiting meaningful verbal elements in complex density and seemingly endless variety These textual elements are proverbs or proverbial phrases written in Swahili, which seem to interact with the colour and design of the cloth (termed kanga), being either abstract or figurative in ornament, which the female wearer may choose according to cunent personal and interpersonal dispositions The paremiologist will find a traesury of signs, texts and contexts, which extend the conventional notions of literature and the verbal arts It appears rather curious to the reviewer that the Swahili proverb cloths have only recently come into scholarly focus, perhaps because of the meanwhile more advanced studies in gender relations and popular culture (though, for instance, truck slogans as another medium of proverb-like sentences were already recorded some 30 years ago)

As with other women`s garments, the kanga has always been closely linked with the perceptions and attitudes that the society has about women themselves. These perceptions and attitudes continue to shape and determine the place of women in their socio-cultural context. Just as women`s clothes are often taken to define, if partially, the beings that occupy them, similarly, in characteristically wearing certain garments and not others, women then assign to those garments what is perceived to be their `feminineness`. In Tanzania, the kanga indexes this `femininity` in a strong way, in spite of the fact that men also wear it. Even more so, the messages that appear on the kanga are viewed as a uniquely female form of communication, and women in Zanzibar, the area covered by this study, have been making increasing use of them as an additional strategy which allows them to make strong statements about their concems, while at the same time avoiding any direct conflict which may arise fiom their individual actions.