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Volume 8, Issue 3 Swahili Modernities. Culture, Politics, and Identity on the East
Coast of The
plural, “Swahili Modernities” reflects not only the
many forms in which modernity manifests itself on the East African Coast at various
times, but also the diversity of approaches used by the contributors to the
volume who have their background - with the exception of Greg Cameron, who is a
political scientist - either in language and literature studies or
anthropology. The case studies covers almost all of the Swahili Coast with Lamu as the most northern site of research and the Comoro
islands the most southern, passing Bagamoyo, The
book is well structured, although the headings of the three sub-sections “From Malindi to the In the introductory chapter Caplan
defines what modernity means in the context of the history of the Swahili
Coast, by summarizing the main threads of discussion between the conference
participants who were faced with two main challenges: to make clear that the coast of East Africa “has
long been an area of perpetual change” (p.3) and to show that “the relationship
between modernity and tradition is far from being an either/or matter.” (p. 5).
As the editors state in their preface, they aimed to explore “the impact of
recent historical changes on the East Coast: globalization and its concomitant,
localization; development and under-development; political changes, conflict
and contests; and local understandings of and strivings towards the elusive
goal of modernity” (viii) – an aim which they definitely accomplished with this
volume. The elusive
character of modernity is at the center of Caplan’s own
case study on Mafia island for which she employed a creative approach. As her
last visit dates back to 1994, Caplan uses the many
letters sent to her since then, to analyze the changes which the island has
undergone in the period of structural adjustment. She discusses how people deal
with the increasing financial demands, which go hand in hand with modernization
and also reflects on how these demands translate into requests for financial
support placed upon herself, the anthropologist (p. 51) In her conclusion Caplan cautions against “exaggerating the success of coping
strategies or romanticizing resistance” (p. 58) which is taking up a great deal
of recent literature on development and modernity and - having known the area
for over three decades – takes a much more pessimistic outlook when she states:
“In the context of Mafia Island, and indeed, I suspect, of much of the rest of
sub-Saharan Africa, the odds are just overwhelming […] The fact is that people
die needlessly and people’s lives are much harder than they should be.
Modernity remains elusive” (p. 58-59). In the second, also very stimulating,
case study on Mafia island, Christine J. Walley
explores notions of the meaning of development to the people on Mafia and
contrasts them with the understanding of development by the different actors
within the development-business. Greg Cameron’s
„Political Violence, Ethnicity and the Agrarian Question in Zanzibar“ is the
first of two chapters which deal with the recent political conflict between the
ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM)
party and the Civic United Front (CUF) opposition which also took violent forms
such as the demonstrations most notably in the January 2001 where many CUF
supporters lost their lives in shootings. He convincingly argues that “the origins
of The authors who deal with cultural expressions of Swahili identity generally offer more positive perspectives. Assibi A. Amidu describes Swahili poetry as a means to fight out political struggles in Lamu, while Paul Musau discusses how innovations on various levels have changed Taarab from a non-participatory form of music revolving around the main topic love, to a music-style which encourages the participation of its audience and which also addresses socio-political issues such as corruption, education and HIV/AIDS. The only chapter with an explicit gender focus is Farouk Topan’s analysis of the, representations of Female Status in Swahili Literature. Having traced changes in three pieces of Swahili literature which have been produced in different periods of time, he concludes that, “the attitude of men towards issues of gender” which on the level of literature manifests itself on the number of male writers who take “a stand against the exploitation of women” is a decisive factor. (p. 224-225) All
twelve chapters are relatively short and generally read well although there are
substantial differences with regards to their quality and originality. Some
authors remain very much on the surface of their topic and a more selective
editing policy could have improved this collection. Despite these shortcomings
the book certainly is of great value to anybody with an interest in the
contemporary Birgit Englert Notes: |
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