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Swahili literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the Swahili language particularly by Swahili people of the East African coast and the neighbouring islands. It may also refer to literature written by people who write in Swahili language. It is an offshoot of the Bantu culture. Image File history File links Portal. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... This article is about the language. ... The Swahili are a people and culture found on the coast of East Africa, mainly the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya and Tanzania. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ... Map showing the approximate distribution of Bantu (dull yellow) vs. ...

The first literary works date back to the beginning of the 16th century, when all Swahili literature was written in the Arabic script. However, starting the 19th century, missionaries and orientalists introduced the Roman alphabet for recording Swahili language. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language, which is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages and peoples by Western scholars. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ...

Characteristics

Swahili literature has been an object of research by many western scholars since the 19th century. There is a debate whether there was objectivity on those researches as a few scholars tried to establish a canon of Swahili writing ^[1]. Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages and peoples by Western scholars. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

One of the main characteristics of the Swahili literature is the relative heterogeneity of the Swahili language. One can find works written in Kiamu, Kimvita, Kipemba, Kiunguja, Kimrima, Kimtang'ata, Ki-Dar-es-salaam and Ki-Nairobi which are considered varieties of Swahili.^[2] This article is about the language. ...

Swahili literature has been sometimes characterized as Islamic by some western scholars such as Jan Knappert. This approach was criticized by some experts such as Alamin Mazrui and Ibrahim Noor Shariff ^[3]. In fact, Swahili poetry has produced many secular works by such poets as Muyaka bin Ghassany and Muhammad Kijuma ^[4]. This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ...

Because of this orientalist exploration and interest in the Swahili culture and language, it should be noted that most of the thesis made on the Swahili literature has been done outside of the native place. ^[5].

Classification

Swahili literature is classified into three genres: Riwaya (the novel), tamthilia (drama) and shairi (poetry). A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative in prose. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poesis, making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ...

Fiction

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Fiction in Swahili literature mainly consisted of oral narrative traditions. It was until the 40's of the 20th century that Swahili started to have a written fiction. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... In non-technical terms, no matter what the context (whether scientific, philosophical, legal, etc) a narrative is a story, an interpretation of some aspect of the world that is historically and culturally grounded and shaped by human personality (per Walter Fisher). ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

Poetry

See also: Category:Swahili poetry

Generally, Swahili poetry is derived from Arabic poetry. Swahili poetry or "shairi" (from Arabic: Shîir‎, poetry) is still written in the traditional manner. It began in the northern Kenya coastal towns of Lamu and Pate before spreading to Tanga Region, Zanzibar and other nearby areas.^[6] Arabic poetry is poetry composed and written down in the Arabic language either by Arab people or non-Arabs. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Lamu town is the largest town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya, (coordinates ). Lamu town is also the headquarters of Lamu District. ... Pate Island is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. ... Map of the Tanga Region Tanga Region is one of the 26 regions of Tanzania. ... Map of Zanzibars main island Zanzibar (IPA pronunciation: ), as used today, is the collective name for two East African islands off mainland Tanzania: Unguja (also called Zanzibar) and Pemba. ...

However, there are a few fundamental differences between the Swahili and Arabic poetry. With much of African influence, the two poetries can hardly be compared for it is sui generis. ^[7] Pronunciation SOO-eye jen-ER-ihs Sui generis is a (post) Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. ...

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^[8]. Examples of narrative poetry, known as utenzi, include the Utendi wa Tambuka by Bwana Mwengo (dated to about 1728) and the Utenzi wa Shufaka. The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. ... Lyrics are the written words in a song. ... The Didactic is facts based as opposed to the Dialectic which is feelings based. ... Religious is a term with both a technical definition and folk use. ... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ...

The purpose of Swahili prose was until recently practically restricted to Utilitarianism. 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 and the absence of the context in which the poem was written. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Homiletics (Gr. ... This article is about the type of character. ...

Notable literary people

• Farouk Topan - Tanzania
• Ebrahim Hussein (1943- ) Tanzania
• Muhammed Said Abdulla (April 25, 1918 ) Tanzania
• Pera Ridhiwani (1917-1997 ) Tanzania
• May M Balisidya (?- 1987), Tanzania
• Mzee Hamis Akida (22nd November 1914- ), Tanzania
• Said Khamis (12th December 1947-), Zanzibar ^[9]

Map of Zanzibars main island Zanzibar (IPA pronunciation: ), as used today, is the collective name for two East African islands off mainland Tanzania: Unguja (also called Zanzibar) and Pemba. ...

See also

• African literature
• Utendi wa Tambuka
• Utenzi

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

External links

• Britannica entry on Swahili literature
• Swahili Manuscripts Database Project
• UCLA Swahili Poetry Project
• A bibliography of Swahili literature, linguistics, culture and history (PDF). Swahili Forum - Compiled by Thomas Geider.

Bibliography

• Bertoncini-Zúbková, Elena (1996). Vamps and Victims - Women in Modern Swahili Literature. An Anthology. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, pp. 134-137. ISBN 3-927620-74-2.
• Bertoncini-Zúbková, Elena (DEcember 1989). Outline of Swahili Literature: Prose, Fiction and Drama. Brill, pp. 353. ISBN 9-004085-04-1.
• Knappert, Jan (December 1979). Four Centuries of Swahili Verse: A Literary History and Anthology. Heinemann, 333 p.. ISBN 0435917021.
• 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 Kiswahili, 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-.)

References and notes

1. ^ Knappert, Jan (1980) - The canon of Swahili literature (B.C. Bloomfield (ed.), Middle East Studies and Libraries. London, 1980, 85-102.)
2. ^ The Heterogeneity of Swahili Literature (PDF). Nordic Journal of African Studies 9(2): 11-21 (2000). Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
3. ^ Mazrui, Alamin, Ibrahim Noor Shariff (1996). The Swahili. Idiom and Identity of an African People, pp. 95-97.
4. ^ Islam, language and ethnicity in Eastern Africa: Some literary considerations (RTF). Harriet Tubman Seminar. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
5. ^ A. Ricard, (1995) Introduction à « Comment écrire pour le théâtre en suivant Aristote ? de Ebahim Hussein », in : Alternatives théâtrales n°48, p.64. (French)
6. ^ ossrea.net - The Waswahili/Swahili Culture
7. ^ - Poetry provides a remarkable outlet for personal expression in Swahili culture By Lyndon Harries
8. ^ vessella.it - Swahili
9. ^ Part of this list is referenced fromAfrican Writers Index