Of interest to linguists, artists, ma-youth, scholars of urban studies, educationalists, policy makers and language planners who are grappling with the challenges of multilingualism and language of education in Kenya.
The Swahili of East Africa have a long and distinctive history as a literate, Muslim, urban, and mercantile society. This book presents an anthropological account of the Swahili and offers an original analysis of their little-understood and unusual culture.
History is a testament to what happened to a people or a place. It shows how things were and their transformation while explaining why the changes happened. Not only does history allow human beings to trace their trajectory in dealing with specific issues they face in the affairs of making a living, it also highlights movements between people around the world while showing their role in creating systems still in place today. History reveals to us major contributors of the trading systems along the east coast of Africa, documenting the role of the Swahili people and their interactions with different people of the world.The Swahili People and Their Language discusses ways in which the Swahili people came to occupy a prominent position in the world's trading system and how they lost their wealth through their contact with the outside world. The book highlights the strategic position occupied by the Swahili people, their natural resources, their skills and their rich cultural mix and how the contact with the outside world played a major influence that is clearly noticeable to date. The book contributes to the on-going discussion about Africans and their participation in today's development and reminds readers that the creation of the current economic, social and political situation of the Swahili people mirrors the history and positioning of many other formerly independent societies that became colonized nation-states. The authors provide discussions that shade light on critical questions such as: Who are the Swahili people and why are they important? Is there such a thing as a Swahili Civilization? If so, what is it and how does it relate to modern civilization? What place does the Swahili language occupy both in its history and usage on the continent and in the rest of the world?
Swahili was once an obscure dialect of an East African Bantu language. Today more than one hundred million people use it: Swahili is to eastern and central Africa what English is to the world. From its embrace in the 1960s by the black freedom movement in the United States to its adoption in 2004 as the African Union’s official language, Swahili has become a truly international language. How this came about and why, of all African languages, it happened only to Swahili is the story that John M. Mugane sets out to explore. The remarkable adaptability of Swahili has allowed Africans and others to tailor the language to their needs, extending its influence far beyond its place of origin. Its symbolic as well as its practical power has evolved from its status as a language of contact among diverse cultures, even as it embodies the history of communities in eastern and central Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean world. The Story of Swahili calls for a reevaluation of the widespread assumption that cultural superiority, military conquest, and economic dominance determine a language’s prosperity. This sweeping history gives a vibrant, living language its due, highlighting its nimbleness from its beginnings to its place today in the fast-changing world of global communication.
This book is critically important for Bible translation theorists, postcolonial scholars, church leaders, and the general public interested in the history, politics, and nature of Bible translation work in Africa. It is also useful to students of gender studies, political science, biblical studies, and history-of-colonization studies. The book catalogs the major work that has been undertaken by African scholars. This work critiques and contests colonial Bible translation narratives by privileging the importance African oral vitality in rewriting the meaning of biblical texts in the African sociopolitical, political, and cultural contexts.
With nearly two hundred and fifty individually signed entries, the Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History explores the ways in which the peoples of Africa and their politics, states, societies, economies, environments, cultures and arts were transformed during the course of that Janus-faced century. Overseen by a diverse and distinguished international team of consultant editors, the Encyclopedia provides a thorough examination of the global and local forces that shaped the changes that the continent underwent. Combining essential factual description with evaluation and analysis, the entries tease out patterns from across the continent as a whole, as well as within particular regions and countries: it is the first work of its kind to present such a comprehensive overview of twentieth-century African history. With full indexes and a thematic entry list, together with ample cross-referencing and suggestions for further reading, the Encyclopedia will be welcomed as an essential work of reference by both scholar and student of twentieth-century African history. Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2004
Originally published in 1980, Language in Tanzania presents a comprehensive overview of the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa. Using extensive research carried out by an interdisciplinary group of international and local scholars, the survey also covers Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. The book represents one of the most in-depth sociolinguistic studies carried out on this region at this time. It provides basic linguistic data necessary to policy-makers, administrators, and educators, and will be of interest to those researching the formulation and execution of language policy.
Kwanzaa is an African American holiday celebrated from December 26 to January 1, while celebrating Kwanzaa people eat delicious foods, wear special clothes, sing, dance, and celebrate their ancestors.