Jịọjị

Photo: Sinhalese people and an Ikwere Igbo boy photographed during a Rumuji Owu play by G. I. Jones, c. 1930s, MAA Cambridge.

Have you heard of the lungi? This plaid material commonly known as madras is a textile from India that has become ethnic wear in southeastern Nigeria, known as George (Jịọjị) by the Igbo and injiri by the Kalabari. This is a brief history.

The lungi has been worn in India for centuries particularly in the south, today in India the lungi is relatively cheap and widely made and is associated with the working class. With British colonialism, the lungi was exposed to empire.

Madras, now Chennai, was a British East India Company post centred on the Fort St. George factory in the 17th century. It became the principal weaving and distribution spot for the lungi when empire exponentially increased its amount of weavers, marketing the madras worldwide.

1699 Map of New Calabar

1699 map in French of the New Calabar River, a major centre of the slave trade. The map locates the “Ville du Nouveau Kalabar” (New Calabar or Elem Kalabari), “Ville de Bandi” (Ubani > Bonny), and "Ville de Doni" (Andoni), and some other places. Via slavevoyages.org

Akenta Bob

"AKenta Bob (Ibibio) in her wedding dress New Calabar [Elem Kalabari]" – Jonathan Adagogo Green, late 19th century – early 20th century. British Museum.