Browse Items (57 total)

Utendi wa Mwana Kupona [Mwana Kupona’s Poem] is one of the most popular poems in Kiswahili literature. It was written around 1858 by Mwana Kupona binti Mshamu (c. 1810-1860) for her daughter, Mwana Hashima binti Sheikh (1841-1933). Didactic in…

Utendi wa Mwana Kupona [Mwana Kupona’s Poem] is one of the most popular poems in Swahili literature. It was written around 1858 by Mwana Kupona binti Mshamu (c. 1810-1860) for her daughter, Mwana Hashima binti Sheikh (1841-1933). Didactic in purpose,…

Shaaban Robert was, above all, a poet. As noted on the back cover of this volume, “. . . the poems appearing here cover the entire spectrum of human existence: youth and old age, morality and religion, politics, the beauty and signification of…

Julius Nyerere's speech on freedom and progress.

Call Number: DT448.2 .N94 1967

Julius Nyerere's speech on the importance of the socialist scheme he introduced into Tanzania during his presidency.

Call Number: DT448.2 .N94 1967

Swahili poetry prior to the twentieth century was written in ajami script that was adapted from Arabic. Many examples of this script have been preserved in manuscript form, as illustrated by the reproduction of the poem shown left, Utumbuizo wa…

Utendi wa kutawafu Nabii, a characteristic example of the utenzi tradition in its early expression, commemorates the life of the prophet and includes his final message to the faithful before being visited by the angel of death. The poem exemplifies…

Utendi wa kutawafu Nabii, a characteristic example of the utenzi tradition in its early expression, commemorates the life of the prophet and includes his final message to the faithful before being visited by the angel of death. The poem exemplifies…

With the conquest of East African peoples by Germany in Tanganyika and by the British in Kenya, the realities of colonial politics led to further secularization and, along with it, indigenization of thematic material in utenzi poetry. Utenzi wa…