KITENGE

I have not found a single reference to central African kitenge (or chitenge) fabric in any print publication. There are scattered news articles and blog posts online which lack historical context and use terms for dissimilar fabrics interchangeably - central African kitenge is conflated with east African kangas or west African ankara (‘ankara’ is specifically Nigerian terminology for what is referred to as ‘wax print’ across west Africa, thereby causing further unnecessary confusion).

The kitenge textiles worn in central Africa are currently identical to West African wax print however that may not always have been the case. Kitenge manufactured in central Africa in the 20th Century appears stylistically quite different from wax print; it does not seem to be derived from Indonesian batik textiles nor does it appear to be printed using resin resist therefore the idiosyncratic crackles and bubbles are absent.

Late 20th Century kitenge, made in Zambia. Personal collection