front cover of Kujibizana
Kujibizana
Questions of Language and Power in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Poetry in Kishwahili
Ann Biersteker
Michigan State University Press, 1996

The author argues that reading poetry in Kiswahili provides important insights into questions of language and power, as well as into discussions of socialist practice in East Africa and East African resistance to colonialism and neo-colonialism. Includes the text of numerous poems and footnotes.

[more]

front cover of Mashairi ya Vita vya Kuduhu
Mashairi ya Vita vya Kuduhu
War Poetry in Kiswahili Exchanged at the Time of the Battle of Kuduhu
Ann Biersteker
Michigan State University Press, 1995

Mashairi Ya Vita Vya Kuduhu is a presentation and discussion of both manuscript and published versions of poems written by Lamu poets around the time of the Battle of Kuduhu. The poetic dialogue studied in this volume has played a significant role in the history of Swahili poetry, and its primary concern is to inform continued work in this area. The poems contained in this work were transmitted and preserved by speakers of Kiswahili and later collected and preserved by scholars. Chapter One contains the edited poems; Chapter Two consists of the translations. Subsequent chapters include accounts of the Battle of Kuduhu, editing and translating practices, and annotated poems and source versions. This work is presented as an example of the importance of research, fieldwork, and the consideration of available versions and alternative styles of presentation in the study of Swahili poetry.

[more]


Send via email Share on Facebook Share on Twitter