Philosophy & Rhetoric Jul 2023

The Genres of Swahili Philosophy

Alena Rettová University of Bayreuth

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article maintains that African philosophy should consider those discourses that function as channels of important ideas in African cultures, without prejudice against their language and, especially, their genre. What are such philosophical discourses? This article starts from a case study, Swahili culture, and interrogates the communicative resources available to it to serve as vehicles of philosophical thought. The survey includes language itself, proverbs, musical performance (sung lyrics), metric and free-verse poetry, novelistic prose, theoretical writings, and translations. Based on this spectrum of genres, the article ventures some general observations about the relationship of African philosophy to language and genre.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2023-07-04
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.56.1.0008
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
genre theory qualitative research
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (122)

  1. (1977)
    Mashairi ya Miaka Kumi ya Azimio la Arusha
  2. (1979)
    Muyaka: 19th Century Swahili Popular Poetry
  3. (1979)
    Misingi ya Maarifa ya Kifalsafa. Uyakinifu wa Kidialektiki
  4. (1990)
    Kimwondo: A Kiswahili Electoral Contest
  5. (1993)
    “Lessons from Kimondo: An Aspect of Kiswahili Culture.”
    Nordic Journal of African Studies
Show all 122 →
  1. (1963)
    Bima ya ujamaa katika U.S.S.R
  2. (2002)
    Performing the Nation: Swahili Music and Cultural Politics in Tanzania
  3. (2007)
    The Anthropology of Texts, Persons and Publics: Oral and Written Culture in Africa and Beyond
  4. (1977)
    Image, Music, Text
  5. (1990)
    “The Significance of the Swahili Literary Tradition and the Interpretation of Early Twent…
    Discussion Papers of the African Humanities
  6. (1991)
    Faces of Islam in African Literature
  7. (1996)
    Kujibizana: Questions of Language and Power in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Poetry i…
  8. (1995)
    Mashairi ya Vita vya Kuduhu: War Poetry in Kiswahili Exchanged at the Time of the Battle …
  9. (2004)
    Swahili Modernities: Culture, Politics, and Identity on the East Coast of Africa
  10. (2012)
    “Ziraili na Zirani, a Philosophical Analysis.”
    Swahili Forum
  11. Descartes, René. 2005 (1641). Descartes’ Meditations. A Trilingual HTML Edition. Edited by David B.Manley and…
  12. (2002)
    “Allegories in Euphrase Kezilahabi’s Early Novels.”
    Swahili Forum
  13. (2005)
    “Intertextuality in the Contemporary Swahili Novel: Euphrase Kezilahabi’s Nagona and Will…
    Swahili Forum
  14. (1991)
    “The State of Research on Performance in Africa.”
    African Studies Review  ↗
  15. (2022)
    Pervoponyatiya: Klyuchi k kul’turnomu kodu
  16. (2003)
    “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism.”
    CR: The New Centennial Review  ↗
  17. (1980)
    Textual Strategies: Perspectives in Post-Structuralist Criticism
  18. (1995)
    Ideology in Practice: Hausa Poetry as Exposition of Values and Viewpoints
  19. (2006)
    L’effet roman: Arrivée du roman dans les langues d’Afrique
  20. (2002)
    A Place in the World. New Local Historiographies from Africa and South Asia
  21. (1976)
    Structure and Value in Three Swahili Epics
    Research in African Literatures
  22. (1981)
    African Language Literatures: An Introduction to the Literary History of Sub-Saharan Africa
  23. (2004)
    “Tafsiri Mpya ya Fasihi ya Kirusi katika Kiswahili.”
    Swahili Forum
  24. (1995)
    An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme
  25. (2000)
    The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful: Discourse about Values in Yoruba Culture
  26. (1997)
    Knowledge, Belief, and Witchcraft: Analytic Experiments in African Philosophy
  27. (1980)
    Matunda ya Azimio: Mashairi ya Mwamko wa Siasa
  28. (2005)
    Wissensvermittlung in dichterischer Gestalt
  29. (1982)
    “Langues africaines et philosophie : l’hypothèse relativiste.”
    Les Études Philosophiques
  30. (1996)
    African Philosophy: Myth and Reality
  31. (1987)
    Nadharia ya Kisiasa Kuhusu Uchumi ni Nini?
  32. (2003)
    Musique urbaine au Katanga : De Malaika à Santu Kim-bangu
  33. (1955)
    La philosophie bantu-rwandaise de l’Être. Mémoires in-8° de l’Académie royale des Science…
  34. (1976)
    La philosophie Bantu comparée
  35. (1971)
    Mashairi ya Azimio la Arusha
  36. (1974)
    Kichwamaji
  37. (1974)
    Kichomi
  38. (1976)
    Dunia Uwanja wa Fujo
  39. (1985)
    “African Philosophy and the Problem of Literary Interpretation.”
  40. (1988)
    Karibu Ndani
  41. (1990)
    Nagona
  42. (1991)
    Mzingile
  43. (2008)
    Dhifa
  44. (2005)
    “Signs of New Features in the Swahili Novel.”
    Research in African Literatures  ↗
  45. (1987)
    Falsafa ni nini?
  46. (1967)
    Traditional Swahili Poetry: An Investigation into the Concepts of East African Islam as R…
  47. (1971)
    Swahili Islamic Poetry
  48. (1979)
    Four Centuries of Swahili Verse: A Literary History and Anthology
  49. (2010)
    Filosofie mezi mýtem a vědou: Od Homéra po Descarta
  50. (2007)
    Philosophising in Mombasa: Knowledge, Islam and Intellectual Practice on the Swahili Coast
  51. (2000)
    “Language Matters! Decolonization, Multilingualism, and African Languages in the Making o…
    polylog. Forum for Intercultural Philosophizing
  52. (1971)
    “Traces of Swahili Philosophy.”
    Kiswahili
  53. (1979 [1689])
    An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
  54. Lojiki. (1901)
  55. (1984)
    The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
  56. (1994)
    African Philosophy in Search of Identity
  57. (1992)
    “Conservatism and Liberalism in Swahili Poetry: The Linguistic Dimension.”
    Research in African Literatures
  58. (2007)
    Swahili Beyond the Boundaries: Literature, Language, and Identity
  59. (1993)
    The Swahili: Idiom and Identity of an African People
  60. (1970 [1969])
    African Religions and Philosophy
  61. (2002)
    Kala Shairi: German East Africa in Swahili Poems
  62. (1999)
    Ziraili na Zirani
  63. (1963)
    Diwani ya Mnyampala
  64. (1970)
    Ngonjera za UKUTA 1
  65. (1971)
    Ngonjera za UKUTA 2
  66. (1995)
    “Poetic Serialization: Kiswahili Metapoetry on Prosodic Knots.”
    Research in African Literatures
  67. (2001)
    “Kimondo, Satire, and Political Dialogue: Electioneering through Versification.”
    Research in African Literatures  ↗
  68. (2003)
    Gender, Performance, and Identity: Understanding Swahili Cultural Realities Through Songs
  69. (1968)
    Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism
  70. (1999)
    Philosophy and Oral Tradition
  71. (1990)
    Sage Philosophy: Indigenous Thinkers and Modern Debate on African Philosophy
  72. (1982)
    Design and Intent in African Literature
  73. (1982)
    Les Anyi-Ndenye et le pouvoir aux 18e et 19e siècles
  74. (1992)
    “Balzac in Zanzibar: The Swahili Novel as Disseminator of Bourgeois Individualism.”
    Research in African Literatures
  75. (1958)
    “On Swahili Historiography.”
    Journal of the East African Swahili Committee
  76. (2007)
    “Kazimoto and Meursault: ‘Brothers’ in Despair and Loneliness: Comparing Kezilahabi’s Kic…
    Swahili Forum
  77. (2004)
    “Afrophone Philosophies: Possibilities and Practice. The Reflexion of Philosophical Influ…
    Swahili Forum
  78. (2005)
    “‘The best of all possible worlds’? The Creation of a World in W. E. Mkufya’s Ziraili na …
    Swahili Forum
  79. (2007)
    Afrophone Philosophies: Reality and Challenge
  80. (2010)
    “Philosophy in utenzi Metre: Expression of Ideas and Values in Post-independence Swahili …
    Swahili Forum
  81. (2013)
    Chanter l'existence: La poésie de Sando Marteau et ses horizons philosophiques
  82. (2015)
    “The Singer of Pain: Suffering and Subversion in the Poetry of Sando Marteau.”
    International Journal of Francophone Studies
  83. (2016)
    “A Solitary War? Genre, Community and Philosophy in Swahili Culture.”
    Journal of African Cultural Studies  ↗
  84. (2016)
    “Time as Myth, Time as History in Afrophone Novels on Ujamaa (Tanzanian Socialism) and th…
    Comparative Literature  ↗
  85. (2016)
    Dunia Yao. Utopia/Dystopia in Swahili Fiction
  86. (2018)
    “Translation as Destruction: Kezilahabi’s Adaptation of Heidegger’s ‘Being.’”
    Bulletin of SOAS
  87. (2018)
    “Swahili and Swahili Poetry in Lubumbashi: The Language and Lyrics of Sando Marteau.”
    Archív orientální
  88. (2020)
    “Cognates of ubuntu: Humanity/Personhood in the Swahili Philosophy of utu.”
    Decolonial Subversions
  89. (2022)
    Landscapes of Realism: Rethinking Literary Realism in Comparative Perspectives
  90. Experience and Text: Towards an African-language Phenomenology
  91. (2001)
    “Tanzanian Theatre: From Marx to the Marketplace.”
    TDR: The Drama Review  ↗
  92. (1983)
    A History of Swahili Prose. Part 1: From Earliest Times to the End of the Nineteenth Century
  93. (2007)
    “Mathias Mnyampala: poésie et politique en Tanzanie.”
    Etudes Littéraires Africaines
  94. (2013)
    “Mathias E. Mnyampala (1917–1969): Poésie d’expression swahilie et construction nationale…
  95. (2008)
    “Existentialism and Feminism in Kezilahabi’s novel Kichwamaji.”
    Swahili Forum
  96. (1982)
    Design and Intent in African Literature
  97. (1999)
    Narrating Reality: Austen, Scott, Eliot
  98. (1901)
  99. (2003, 20001)
    Rumba on the River: A History of the Popular Music of the Two Congos
  100. (.)
    Poèmes et pensées philosophiques wolof
  101. (1996)
    Terre de la chanson. La musique zaïroise hier et aujourd’hui
  102. (1974)
    “Modern Swahili Poetry.”
    Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies  ↗
  103. (2006)
    “Why Does a Swahili Writer Write? Euphoria, Pain, and Popular Aspirations in Swahili Lite…
    Research in African Literatures  ↗
  104. (2010)
    “Love and Money in Kinois Popular Music.”
    Journal of African Cultural Studies  ↗
  105. (1991)
    “Nagona and Mzingile: Kezilahabi’s Metaphysics.”
    Kiswahili
  106. (1997)
    “Contemptus Mundi and Carpe Diem Motifs in Kezilahabi’s Works.”
    Kiswahili
  107. (1998)
    “A Philosophical Labyrinth: Tracing Two Critical Motifs in Kezilahabi’s Prose Works.”
    Swahili Forum
  108. (2002)
    Bina-Adamu!
  109. (2002)
    Uhakiki wa Fasihi: Misingi na Vipengele Vyake
  110. (2003)
    Kamusi ya Fasihi: Istilahi na Nadharia
  111. (2005)
    Tamthilia ya Maisha
  112. (1997)
    The Wisdom and Philosophy of the Gĩkũyũ Proverbs: The Kĩhooto World-View
  113. (2008)
    Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutu’s Zaire
  114. (1987)
    Contemporary Philosophy. A New Survey
  115. (1996)
    Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective
  116. (1998)
    “Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy and Religion.”
    African Studies Quarterly
  117. (1998)
    African Philosophy: An Anthology
CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Response to Writing Apr 2026
    Composing in Relation: Rethinking Multimodal Feedback as Rhetorical Design ↗
    Laflen, Angela
    rhetorical criticism composition theory genre theory first-year composition writing pedagogy professional writing qualitative research multimodality editorial matter
  2. Written Communication Jan 2026
    Writing Instruction for Adult L2-Learners: A Case Study From Three Swedish Classrooms ↗
    Clara Palm; Ann-Christin Randahl; Liss Kerstin Sylvén
    genre theory writing pedagogy teacher development qualitative research literacy studies
  3. Written Communication Oct 2025
    Popularization Writing Skills Development: A Longitudinal Case Study of the Writing Process and Writing Outcomes in Nine Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Students ↗
    Florentine Marnel Sterk; Merel van Goch; Michael Burke; Iris van der Tuin
    genre theory discourse analysis writing pedagogy assessment qualitative research
  4. Computers and Composition Jun 2025
    Leveraging ChatGPT for research writing: An exploration of ESL graduate students’ practices ↗
    Dongmei Cheng; Mimi Li; Tony Lee
    genre theory discourse analysis graduate education qualitative research artificial intelligence multilingual writers literacy studies
  5. Res Rhetorica Mar 2025
    Nauczanie retoryki przez debaty: możliwości i ograniczenia ↗
    Marek Kochan
    rhetorical criticism genre theory argument qualitative research