ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with tattoos of individual travelers and package tourists who received their tattoos in East Africa. Many people collect tattoos as a form of “souvenir” during a journey: Such a tattoo represents the wearer’s connection to a particular place, time, and/or experience while traveling. In this contribution, the authors analyze the use of a touristified and simplified Kiswahili as a common inked motif, tattoos showing geographical maps, as well as images that often re-construct stereotypical, romantic or colonial images of Africa. These are approached from the angle of linguistic landscape studies, with a focus on their semiosis and also linguistic composition.
