Martin Clayton Bennett Zon Music and Orientalism in the British Empire, 1780s–1940s: Portrayal of the East, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. (Music in 19th-Century Britain.) xvii, 347 pp. ISBN 978 0 7546 5604 3. £60 (original) (raw)
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World Visions in Swahili Literature
The Locations of (World) Literature: Perspectives from Africa and South Asia - Part I: Visions and Networks, edited by Francesca Orsini and Laetitia Zecchini, 2019
Probably because of its relationship with a coastal culture, Swahili literature seems very aware of its position in the world. Through a reading of Swahili poems and novels across a range of genres, this paper explores the ways in which Swahili writers have engaged in a dialogue with the whole world, from the colonial period to the contemporary era. The evolution of well-identified literary forms such as epic poetry, ethnographic novel or crime novel will also pave the way for identifying the specificities of a Swahili cosmopolitanism anxious to cultivate an art of living in the age of a kind of globalization whose effects are often harshly felt at the local level. Because it has long developed an awareness of the world, Swahili literature has often pioneered the invention of literary forms that are able to translate locally the movements of the world.
2019
This paper considers some of the questions posed by literary translations both from and into Swahili. While the questions a translator might address as she proceeds with each translation may be the same, their differing answers often highlight the translator’s different position towards, and history with, each target language, as well as her aesthetic and political commitments in each. The projects discussed are Mlenge Fanuel Mgendi’s comic short story Starehe gharama (Comfort is Expensive) about a young schoolboy’s misadventure on a daladala bus in Dar es Salaam and Tope Folarin’s Caine Prize shortlisted story Genesis (Mwanzo), in which two Nigerian boys living in the American Midwest witness their mother’s struggle with her new surroundings
Journal of African Cultural Studies, 2022
For a global history of development, Swahili poems from the German colonial period are valuable sources as they help to question the diffusionist view of development discourses as colonial import. This article analyses how concepts of development (maendeleo) and civilisation (ustaarabu) figured in poems written by Swahili authors between 1888 and 1907. Going beyond a reading of these texts as pro- or anti-colonial, it shows the importance poets attached to urban infrastructural improvement. Poems were also informed by the self-image of the superior, urban, Muslim strata of coastal society (waungwana) in contrast to inferior non-Muslim inland societies (washenzi). Several poets suggested that inland societies should be disciplined, yet differences to coastal Swahili society were usually not couched in terms of temporality nor in terms of a civilising mission. Poets had to come to terms, however, with new power relations as a result of German conquest. While some authors openly criticised colonial violence, others also embraced colonial interventions in infrastructural and economic aspects – but still expressed nostalgia for the past. In sum, the poems constitute a transitional space in Swahili discourses on development, showing that these were not merely colonial imports but grew from multiple roots.
Modern Swahili: an integration of Arabic culture into Swahili literature
Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, 2018
Modern Swahili: the integration of Arabic culture into Swahili literature Due to her geographical position, the African continent has for many centuries hosted visitors from other continents such as Asia and Europe. Such visitors came to Africa as explorers, missionaries, traders and colonialists. Over the years, the continent has played host to the Chinese, Portuguese, Persians, Indians, Arabs and Europeans. Arabs have had a particularly long history of interaction with East African people, and have therefore made a significant contribution to the development of the Swahili language. Swahili is an African native language of Bantu origin which had been in existence before the arrival of Arabs in East Africa. The long period of interaction between Arabs and the locals led to linguistic borrowing mainly from Arabic to Swahili. The presence of loanwords in Swahili is evidence of cultural interaction between the Swahili and Arabic people. The Arabic words are borrowed from diverse registers of the language. Hence, Swahili literature is loaded with Arabic cultural aspects through Arabic loanwords. Many literary works are examples of Swahili literature that contains such words. As a result, there is evidence of Swahili integrating Arabic culture in its literature, an aspect that this paper seeks to highlight.
Materialism and secularism in Swahili literature
Afrikanistik Aegyptologie Online, 2020
Concepts like materialism and secular thought have formed the basis of literary works of some of the most important authors of modern literature, such as Kezilahabi, Hussein, Mulokozi, and Topan. The value of such concepts has not always been admitted by critics: all these authors, in fact, have faced various difficulties related to their works, from open refusal (in Kezilahabi's case) to a reluctant acceptance that neglected their critical points (in Topan's and Hussein's cases). The aim of this paper is to show to what extent secularism, materialism, and laicism are fundamental to these writers by selecting one case study, that of Topan's comedy Aliyeonja Pepo, and exploring its critique of religion, both independently and in comparison with the other aforementioned authors. Recognizing the presence of these concepts, in fact, would allow for a deeper analysis of the internal structures of these texts and mark an advance in their critical studies. Zusammenfassung Konzepte wie Materialismus und weltliches Denken sind die Grundlage literarischer Werke einiger der wichtigsten modernen Autoren wie Kezilahabi, Hussein, Mulokozi und Topan. Kritiker haben den Wert dieser Konzepte nicht anerkannt, und die genannten Autoren sahen sich deshalb in Bezug auf ihre Arbeiten mit verschiedenen Schwierigkeiten konfrontiert. Die reichen von unverhohlener Ablehnung (im Fall von Kezilahabi) bis zu widerwilliger Akzeptanz (im Falle von Topan und Hussein). In einer Fallstudie, Topans Komödie Aliyeonja Pepo, will dieser Artikel aufzeigen, in welchem Ausmaß Säkularismus, Materialismus und Laïzismus für diese Autoren grundlegend sind. Dabei untersucht er Topans Religionskritik sowohl unabhängig als auch im Vergleich mit derjenigen der beiden anderen Autoren. Eine Anerkennung der genannten Konzepte würde eine tiefergehende Analyse der internen Strukturen der Texte zulassen und eine Bewertung als kritische Studien. Ikisiri Dhana kama umaada [materialism] na fikra ya kutotegemea dini [secular thought] zilikuwa misingi ya kazi za kifasihi za baadhi ya waandishi bora wa fasihi ya kisasa, kama vile akina Kezilahabi, Hussein, Mulokozi na Topan. Thamani ya dhana hizo haijatambuliwa kwa ukamili na wachambuzi. Kwa hivyo, kazi za waandishi hao zilipata changamoto nyingi baada ya kuchapishwa: nyingine zikakataliwa na kulaumiwa (kwa mfano, zile za Kezilahabi), na nyingine zimekubaliwa ingawa vipengele vyao vyenye ukosoaji mkubwa zaidi vimepuuzwa na kunyamazishwa (kama ilivyotokea kwa Topan na Hussein). Lengo la makala hii ni kuonyesha kwamba dhana za umaada, kutotegemea dini na kujikomboa dini [laicism] ni ya msingi kabisa kwa waandishi husika, kwa kuteua kifani kimoja, ramsa ya Topan Aliyeonja Pepo, na kuzungumzia ukosoaji wake wa dini katika jamii ya leo, kwanza katika kazi yenyewe na tena kwa kuilinganisha na uwazo wa waandishi wengine waliotajwa. Kutambua kuwepo kwa dhana hizo kutatuwezesha kuchambua kwa kina zaidi miundo ya ndani ya matini hizo, na kufanya masomo ya uchambuzi wao kupiga hatua mbele. 1 Gaudioso, Roberto. A Literary Approach to Avoiding Objectification of the Text: Reading Kezilahabi and Beyond. 2 Gaudioso, Roberto. Il corpo e la parola. La poetica di Ebrahim Hussein attraverso la traduzione di Ngoma na Vailini; Gaudioso, Roberto. Il genio della letteratura Swahili: Ebrahim Hussein e Euphrase Kezilahabi; Gaudioso, Roberto. The voice of the text and its body. The continuous reform of Kezilahabi's poetics.
SWAHILI LITERATURE & THE CASE FOR KISWAHILI AS AFRICA'S LINGUA FRANCA
Kiswahili, a phonetic Bantu language, is fast gaining currency across the Africa continent. Its status as a lingua franca became clear when it became the first African language to be adopted as a 'working language' by the African Union. Although it began in Eastern Africa, Kiswahili is taught and spoken as far away as Ghana and South Africa. As of mid-2018, Kiswahili was the third most spoken language in Africa, after English and Arabic. This research traces and confirms Kiswahili's dominant status on the continent. It also gives valuable insights into Kiswahili Literature, covering the history, categories, classic works, and literary giants of this growing genre.
AL-INKISHAFI: A NINTEENTH CENTURY SWAHILI POEM
Within the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya's northern coast, creative writing has been thriving for at least three hundred years. Thanks to the coming to the region of Arab immigrants and the introduction of Arabic script, the locals cultivated a strong literacy tradition especially in poetry. One of the region's finest poetic compositions, created about two hundred years ago, is "Al-Inkishafi" which translates as "Soul's Awakening" (Hitchens, 1972) or the "Catechism of the Soul" (De Verre Allen, 1977).