Why wearing traditional dress will always be political

For many on the continent and among the diaspora, navigating multiple identities via cultural attire is a birthright, but it can create some complications Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Good afternoon to everyone, apart from the organisers of Afcon. Several weeks ago, the Ghanaian president, John Dramani Mahama, wore the traditional fugu, a patterned smock, on a state visit to Zambia. He came in for mockery from Zambians (some of it lighthearted) on social media, with some calling it a “blouse”. The result was that the Ghanaian government mandated every Wednesday as “Fugu Day”. Many in Ghana heeded the call. It prompted weeks of conversation among The Long Wave team, who have origins in Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, and Trinidad and Tobago, about the politics of wearing traditional clothes. A thread was pulled, as it were. Why is wearing our traditional clothing sometimes so fraught? I cannot claim to have embarked on the level of travel that can enable me to draw a pan-African conclusion, but from the exposures I have had on the continent, it is noticeable how dramatically the wearing of traditional dress varies. In Sudan, the male galabeya and female thobe