Swahili literature

Swahili literature has been an object of research by many western scholars since the 19th century. There is a debate regarding objectivity as a few scholars tried to establish a canon of Swahili writing.Knappert, Jan (1980) - The canon of Swahili literature (B.C. Bloomfield (ed.), Middle East Studies and Libraries. London, 1980, 85-102.)

One of the main characteristics of Swahili literature is the relative heterogeneity of the Swahili language. One can find works written in Kiamu (see for example the poetry by Ustadh Mau),[https://brill.com/edcollbook-oa/title/62192 In this fragile world : Swahili poetry of commitment by Ustadh Mahmoud Mau ] / Poetry by Ustadh Mau (Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulkadir). Translated and edited by Annachiara Raia and Clarissa Vierke, in collaboration with Jasmin Mahazi and Azra Ahmad Abdulkadir. Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2023]. Kimvita, Kipemba, Kiunguja, Kimrima, Kimtang'ata, Ki-Dar es Salaam and Ki-Nairobi which are considered varieties of Swahili.{{cite web | title=The Heterogeneity of Swahili Literature | publisher = Nordic Journal of African Studies 9(2): 11-21 (2000) | url=http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol9num2/khamis.pdf#search=%22%22swahili%20literature%22%22 | format = PDF | access-date=2006-09-26 }}

Swahili literature has been sometimes characterized as Islamic by some western scholars such as Jan Knappert. This approach was criticized by others such as Alamin Mazrui and Ibrahim Noor Shariff.{{cite book | last= Mazrui | first=Alamin |author2=Ibrahim Noor Shariff | year=1996 | title=The Swahili. Idiom and Identity of an African People | pages=95–97 }} In fact, Swahili poetry has produced many secular works by poets such as Muyaka bin Ghassany and Muhammad Kijuma.{{cite web | title=Islam, language and ethnicity in Eastern Africa: Some literary considerations | publisher = Harriet Tubman Seminar | url=http://www.yorku.ca/nhp/seminars/seminars/ofahey.rtf | format = RTF | access-date=2006-09-26 }}

Because of this orientalist exploration and interest in the Swahili culture and language, most of the theses made on the Swahili literature have been done outside of the native place.A. Ricard, (1995) Introduction à « Comment écrire pour le théâtre en suivant Aristote ? de Ebahim Hussein », in : Alternatives théâtrales n°48, p.64. {{in lang|fr}}

Swahili literature is classified into three genres: Riwaya (the novel), tamthilia (drama/play) and ushairi (poetry).{{Cite book|title=Exploring the Qur'an: Context and Impact|last=Haleem|first=Muhammad Abdel|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2017|isbn=9781780763651|location=London}} Scholars, however, cite the problem in the literary classification because the association to Western genres does not correspond properly to Swahili literature.{{Cite book|title=Transgression in Swahili Narrative Fiction and its Reception|last=Tchokothe|first=Rémi Armand|publisher=LIT Verlag|year=2014|isbn=9783643903938|location=Zurich|pages=25}} The lack of clear and decisive characteristics for genres can be illustrated by the convergence of oral and written literary forms.{{Cite book|title=A History of Swahili Prose, Part 1: From Earliest Times to the End of the Nineteenth Century|last=Rollins|first=Jack|publisher=E.J. BRILL|year=1983|isbn=9004068880|location=Leiden|pages=47}} Rajmund Ohly noted that the names of genres are not well defined while denominations are too vague to distinguish genre divisions.

Historically, fiction in Swahili literature mainly consisted of oral narrative traditions. It was not until the 1940s that Swahili started to have a written fiction. Modern Swahili literature is a direct result of the standardization of Swahili. Previously, writers would write in a particular dialect to show their attachment to this local language, such as in Lamu, Tanga or Mombasa. The normalization of Swahili motivated writers such as George Mhina and Lyndon Harries to promote the development of Swahili by creating a literary corpus."The Swahili Novel - Challenging the Idea of 'Minor Literature' by Xavier Garnier

{{See also|Category:Swahili poetry}}

Swahili poetry shares many similarities with Arabic poetry. Swahili poetry or "ushairi" (from {{langx|ar-Latn|šiʕr}}, poetry) is still written in the traditional manner. According to an account, the traditional poetry is created to be sung rather than read.{{Cite book|title=The Languages & Literatures of Africa: The Sands of Babel|last=Ricard|first=Alain|last2=Morgan|first2=Naomi|publisher=Africa World Press|year=2004|isbn=9780852555811|location=Trenton, NJ|pages=69}} It began in the northern Kenya coastal towns of Lamu and Pate before spreading to Tanga Region, Zanzibar and other nearby areas.[http://www.ossrea.net/girr/no7/no7-01.htm ossrea.net - The Waswahili/Swahili Culture] The poetic tradition is still alive today as pieces are often published in local newspapers or used in taraab songs and musical theater popular in Zanzibar and on the Swahili coast.

However, there are a few fundamental differences between the Swahili and Arabic poetry. With much of African influence, the two poems can hardly be compared for it is sui generis.[http://www.worldandi.com/public/1986/august/cl6.cfm - Poetry provides a remarkable outlet for personal expression in Swahili culture] By Lyndon Harries

Traditional poetry can be classified into different groups according to its form and content. It can be epic, lyrical or didactic, as well as religious or secular.[http://www.vessella.it/eng.htm vessella.it - Swahili] Examples of narrative poetry, known as utenzi, include the Utendi wa Tambuka by Bwana Mwengo (dated to about 1728) and the Utenzi wa Shufaka.

Use of Swahili prose was until recently practically restricted to utilitarian purposes. However, the traditional art of oral expression in poetry has produced a number of valuable works. It is characterized by its homiletic aspects, heroic songs, folklore ballads and humorous dialogues which accurately depict Swahili life, cultural beliefs and traditions. Because of the immediate historical aspect of the Swahili literature, especially in the 19th century, it is still a hard job to interpret many of the poems due to the lack of knowledge of the context in which the poem was written.

Ebrahim Hussein (born 1943 in Lindi, Tanganyika Territory) is a Tanzanian playwright and poet. His first play, Kinjeketile (1969), written in Swahili, and based on the life of Kinjikitile Ngwale, a leader of the Maji Maji Rebellion, is considered "a landmark of Tanzanian theatre".{{Cite journal |last=Ricard |first=Alain |year=1992 |title=Ebrahim's Predicament |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3819960 |journal=Research in African Literatures |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=175–178 |jstor=3819960}} His works have been studied both in Tanzanian and Kenyan schools and universities.{{Cite journal |last=Ricard |first=Alain |year=1992 |title=Ebrahim's Predicament |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3819960 |journal=Research in African Literatures |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=175–178 |jstor=3819960}}

Hussein's work stands in a literary tradition expressed in Swahili following Tanzania's independence from the United Kingdom in 1961. Since his works, with the exception of Kinjeketile and another play, have not been translated, his work has not become well-known outside of East Africa. Referring to the absence of Hussein's international recognition and the predicament of African literature written in African languages, Ricard wrote:

{{Quote|text=A truly innovative and creative writer, a perceptive thinker, a gifted poet, he has often suffered neglect precisely because he has remained steadfastly committed to Kiswahili. His predicament illustrates the double-bind situation that menaces African literature in African languages. An international reputation is only possible when African-language works are translated into European languages, but few African-language works are translated.|author=Alain Ricard|title=Ebrahim's predicament|source=p. 178}}

Other notable Tanzanian playwrights are Amandina Lihamba and Penina Muhando.

• Farouk Topan, Zanzibar
• Christopher Mwashinga (1965-), Tanzania
• Dada Masiti (c. 1810s–15 July 1919), Kenya
• Ebrahim Hussein (1943- ), Tanzania
• Muhammed Said Abdulla (1918-1991), Tanzania
• Fadhy Mtanga (1981 -), Tanzania
• May Balisidya (?- 1987), Tanzania
• Said Khamis (12 December 1947-), Zanzibar
• Abdilatif Abdalla (14 April 1946-), Kenya
• Ali Alamin Mazrui (1933-2014), Kenya
• Shaaban bin Robert (1909-1962), Tanzania
• Haji Gora Haji, Zanzibar

{{Portal|Literature}}

• African literature
• Siku Njema
• Utendi wa Tambuka "The Story of Tambuka"
• Utenzi "a form of narrative poetry"

• [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9070571/Swahili-literature Britannica entry on Swahili literature]
• [http://www.swahilimanuscripts.soas.ac.uk/ Swahili Manuscripts Database Project]
• [http://swahilipoetry.humnet.ucla.edu/ UCLA Swahili Poetry Project]
• {{cite web | title=A bibliography of Swahili literature, linguistics, culture and history | publisher = Swahili Forum - Compiled by Thomas Geider | url=http://www.ifeas.uni-mainz.de/SwaFo/SWAHILI_FORUM_10_2003.pdf | format = PDF }}
• [http://playforlearning.co.uk/jifunzekiswahili.html Learn Swahili software]
• [https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesast00steegoog Swahili folktales] collected by Edward Steere at the Internet Archive

• {{cite book | last=Bertoncini-Zúbková | first=Elena | year=1996 | title=Vamps and Victims - Women in Modern Swahili Literature. An Anthology | publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag | isbn=3-927620-74-2 | pages=134–137 }}
• {{cite book | last=Bertoncini-Zúbková | first=Elena |date=December 1989 | title=Outline of Swahili Literature: Prose, Fiction and Drama | publisher=Brill | isbn=90-04-08504-1 | page=353 }}
• {{cite book | last=Knappert | first=Jan |date=December 1979 | title=Four Centuries of Swahili Verse: A Literary History and Anthology | publisher=Heinemann | isbn=0-435-91702-1 | page=333 p. }}
• Knappert, Jan (1982) 'Swahili oral traditions', in V. Görög-Karady (ed.) Genres, forms, meanings: essays in African oral literature, 22–30.
• Knappert, Jan (1983) Epic poetry in Swahili and other African languages. Leiden: Brill.
• Knappert, Jan (1990) A grammar of literary Swahili. (Working papers on Swahili, 10). Gent: Seminarie voor Swahili en de Taalproblematiek van de Ontwikkelingsgebieden.
• Nagy, Géza Füssi, The rise of Swahili literature and the œuvre of Shaaban bin Robert (Academic journal)
• Topan, Farouk, Why Does a Swahili Writer Write? Euphoria, Pain, and Popular Aspirations in Swahili Literature (Academic journal)
• Lodhi, Abdulaziz Y. and Lars Ahrenberg (1985) Swahililitteratur - en kort šversikt. (Swahili literature: a short overview.) In: Nytt från Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, no 16, pp 18–21. Uppsala. (Reprinted in Habari, vol 18(3), 198-.)
• The Political Culture of Language: Swahili, Society and the State (Studies on Global Africa) by Ali A. Mazrui, Alamin M. Mazrui

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