At the core of this special issue lies an apparently simple question: What is Swahili Studies? The “critical” perspective entails a question about both epistemological foundations and different versions or notions of “Swahili Studies” – also mirrored in the many institutions teaching Swahili all over the globe. In the same vein, this special issue shows Swahili Studies not as a fixed discipline delimited by geographical, historical, and disciplinary boundaries, and defined canons, but as a subject of an ongoing conversation. The twelve contributions of this special issue deliberately take different perspectives on Swahili Studies: 1. Swahili Studies as mirrored in a variety of different global histories of institutionalization; 2. Critically reflecting upon the notion of “Swahili”, its problematic geographical and linguistic fixations; and 3. Considering the specifically critical role of Uswahili/Mswahili. The aim of this special issue is to hint at the dynamic notions of Swahili – difficult to delimit in clear-cut terms of geography, culture or linguistic parameters. The issue does not give fixed answers or definitions, rather it opens up the multiple possibilities that are of, and from within, Swahili Studies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:85775 |
| Date | 05 June 2023 |
| Creators | Brunotti, Irene, Talento, Serena, Tarrant, Duncan, Vierke, Clarissa |
| Contributors | Universität Leipzig |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:PeriodicalPart, info:eu-repo/semantics/PeriodicalPart, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-91168, qucosa:11507 |
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