C. Vierke / K. Greven (eds.): Dunia Yao – Utopia/Dystopia in Swahili Fiction – In Honour of Said A.M. Khamis [PDF]

2016
232 pp.
2 colour photos, 1 colour chart

Text languages: English, Swahili

While Afrofuturism has been an important point of discussion in African arts and literatures more generally speaking, literatures in African languages have hardly been systematically considered for their imaginaries of the future. Focussing on Swahili literature, this publication brings together contributions which analyse a literary trend in East Africa that has been prominent since the 1990s.

A number of so-called experimental novels have painted dark pictures of societies’ future by also breaking with a number of previously established conventions of the novel. Often taking a comparative perspective, the contributions present facets of a fascinating literary history, which hinges on the following questions: How do/did Swahili authors construct their means of literary writing? How do the innovative style and the estranged fictional world of the writings relate to the recurrently underlined social commitment of the novel?

CONTENTS

Clarissa Vierke / Katharina Greven: Dunia Yao – Critical Visions of the Future in Swahili Fiction

A ‘New’ Trend – Perspectives of Literary History
Lutz Diegner: Dunia Yake – An Appraisal of Said Ahmed Mohamed’s Novels
Mikhail D. Gromov: ‘Local Achievement’ or ‘External Influence’? Intertextuality and Political Satire in the ‘New’ Swahili Novel in Kenya
Clarissa Vierke: The ‘Unhomely City’ – A Literary Figuration in Swahili Dystopian Literature

Readings of the Novel Beyond Realism
Elena Bertoncini: Postmodernism in Swahili Fiction and Drama
Alena Rettová: From Mimesis to Mize – Philosophical Implications of Departure from Literary Realism
Peter Simatei: Magical Realism and Utopian/Dystopian Impulses in Said Ahmed Mohamed’s Babu Alipofufuka

Utopia as Socially Committed Narrative
Abdilatif Abdalla: Fasihi ya Kiswahili na Mabadiliko ya Jamii za Afrika ya Mashariki – Nukta Chache
Geoffrey Kitula King’ei: Taswira za Ukosoaji na ‘Utopia’ katika Ushairi wa Said Ahmed Mohamed
Magdaline N. Wafula: Generational Conflicts in Dunia Yao – Utopia versus Dystopia
Ken Walibora Waliaula: Unravelling the Riddle of ‘Their World’ and ‘Our World’ in Said A. Mohamed’s Dunia Yao

Notes on Contributors

Under these links you will find studies of African/Swahili literature and further text editions and analyses of African oral literature: