Mecca of Swahili in Europe hits 30 years as 23
nations meet in Germany
By Hezekiel Gikambi
#Hezekielgikambi
The 2017 Swahili colloquium at the University of Bayreuth in
Bavaria region, Germany has celebrated its 30th Anniversary since its inception
in 1987 with over 100 participants from 23 countries from 4 continents meeting
and discussing on Swahili language and it’s multi-disciplinary contact areas as
historic four generation of scholars fete the ‘Mecca of Kiswahili in Europe’.
As he run through Schiphol Airport to catch his
flight back to Nairobi, a delighted Harrison Bahati, a teacher of Swahili
language and literature in Nairobi and an MA student in the language, found the
grip of his iphone tighter than usual. The gadget had historic memories of the
biggest Swahili function he had ever attended in his lifetime anywhere. Little
did he know that, as a first timer, he just represented the fourth generation
of scholars from 23 countries in the 30th Anniversary of the Swahili
colloquium at German’s Bayreuth University, a dream come true for him. The
Swahili Colloquium which was founded in May 1987 to celebrate 100 years since
the publishing of the first Swahili dictionary in 1887. This year in May 2017 it
is celebrating its 30th year of existence and at the same time
marking the 25th anniversary at the University of Bayreuth because it has ever
been held at least five times in other universities in Germany like Leipzig,
Berlin Mainz and Hamburg.
The first generation of scholars at the meeting
were well presented by Prof said Ahmed Mohammed, retired from Bayreuth
University after teaching Swahili literature and linguistics for over 17 years,
Abdilatif Abdalla, Prof Dr.Grudun Miehe- popularly known as Mama Swako-the
co-founder of the Swahili colloquium together
Prof .Said, Prof Farouk Topan, Prof Elena Berntoncini among others. These had become the face of
the colloquium. Watching ‘Mama Swako’ speak during the anniversary celebration
session, a colleague was reminding me that she taught a prominent Kenyan Swahili
scholar and famous author Prof Kyallo W Wamitila who was in turn our lecturer.
Having therefore, personally taught Bahati in his MA studies last year, I
counted myself in the third generation of scholars at the conference.
Bwana Hezekiel Gikambi akiwabidhi Dkt. Serena Talento n Dkt Roberto Gadiosso vifurushi vya zawadi za Swahilihub.com katika kongamano la Bayreuth mwaka 2014
Since it started to move its timid first steps back
in the 1980s, the colloquium has been a platform where senior and junior
researchers could exchange expertise, knowledge, experiences, and enduring
bonds of professional friendship. In May 2017 Iwalewahaus, the location of the
colloquium, will got ready to welcome guests from four continents. This 30th colloquium
had the special thematic focus on: “Mahusiano! Languages and
literatures in interface”, and featured presentations discussing linguistic
contact zones, media representations, the educative sector, literary
translation, historiography, entangled literatures and political aspirations,
among others. The Swahili writers and philosophers Prof Euphrase Kezilahabi and
William Mkufya were the special guests of this colloquium, together with the Tanzanian
poet Idd Mohamed Mwimbe and the poet and rapper Mutalemwa Jason Mushumbusi who contributed
with artistic performances to cheer the Swahili Colloquium Jubilee.
The colloquium this year was unique not only because of the
number of people coming from 4 continents but also because the new generations of
scholars like Kaka Bahati were, linking up with the wazees as the shared on
broader spectrum of the topics which reach beyond the language and literature but
touch on history, sociology, anthropology, cultural and political studies.
There were more presentations than any
other past year and that the 3 days of conference needed to be split into
several panels in separate halls said a lot about how big this event has become
and the impact it has worldwide. When it started back in 1987, it lasted one
day with 8 presentations according to the host Prof Clarissa Vierke, a scholar
of African literature and an expert in Classical Swahili Poetry.
In her official opening remarks of the colloquium at
Iwalewa house Ms Serena Talento, a BigSas PhD student who was key in the
organization of the event, said that the 2017 colloquium was that was
celebrating 30 years had attracted an historic 108 participants from 23 nations
from four continents. The Bareuth colloquium this year had participants from Austria,
Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria,
Norway, Poland, Rwanda, Tanzania, Belgium, France, Uganda, England, Germany,
Chzeck Republic, China, Netherlands, Russia, Switzaland, USA and Turkey that
meet in Bayreuth to extend the warmth of the Swako-(Swahili Colloquium) as it
has been famously refered to. According to Ms Talento this attration to Swahili
language has built not only a network of academicians and linguists but also a
strong family of Swahili enthusiasts 30 years down the line.
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The colloquium co-founder and co-author of Damu Nyeusi na Hadithi Nyingine, the
current KCSE Swahili anthology of stories setbook Prof Said Ahmed Mohammed,
refered to Bayreuth University and the Swahili Colloquium to the Mecca of
Swahili in Europe, and requested the government and universities in East
Africa to take the development of
Kiswahili seriously. Prof Said has taught the language in Zanzibar, Dar es
Salaam, Moi University in Kenya, Tokyo in Japan, Leipzig and finally Bayreuth
until his retirement in 2002 during the colloquium Silver Jubilee. He commended
his successor Prof Clarissa Vierke for taking the organization of the event
seriously and taking it higher and higher year in year out.
Some of the milestones in this year’s colloquium that
will remain in the minds of the participants forever include the reflections
and nostalgic moments in Prof Grudun Miehe’s speech. She reminded the gathering
that the current host, Prof Clarissa Vierke was elementary school, the
equivalent of Class one in the Kenyan system of education when the first
colloquium was held in 1987, a fact that caused roars of laughter as Clarissa
stood tall next to her on the podium amidst historic photo galleries playing on
the big screens behind them. The second milestone was the launch of two books
one edited by Prof Clarissa with contributed book chapters from
the presentations of 25th colloquium of 2002-themed- Dunia
Yao and a second one edited by Bayreuth Univeristy PhD
student Roberto Gadiosso Lumuli and his lecturer from University of Naples
Prof Flavia Aurelio, a collection of
Swahili and Italian translation of Prof Kezilahabi’s free verse Swahili poems
and Abdilatif Abdalla’s poems where the two poets stepped up the podium to
recite them as Flavia and Roberto read the Italian rendition.
The last but not the least, it was the spicing up of the
presentations with a African philosophical expositions and exchanges from the
Tanzanian Prof Euphrase Kezilahabi(the one of the Swahili free-verse and
exsistentialism fame), currently teaching Swahili and African literature at the
University of Botswana and the Kenyan reknown expert in Sage Philosophy Prof
..........that completed the academic discourse setting the aura of high
academic pitch across the room as laughter and complex questions on simple
things truth and life rented the air at Iwalewahaus. This sesion was combined with the
inauguaratioin of over 100 invited Bayreuth International Graduate School of
African studies-BIGSAS- who filled the hall to its capacity.
What comes in ones mind after witnessing the success of
such an event that is Swahili based, held several thousands of kilometres away
from East Africa,the origin of Swahili, is obviously the unstopable growth and
importance of an African language gradually turning into a global one. However,
as this year’s colloquium took a minute to remember the late Kenyan poet and
own educated Swahili expert Prof Sheikh Ahmad Nabhany’s contribution to Swahili
language, I could not help but remember what he once told me in Mombasa;
‘’Unless our governments in East Africa are committed to funding efforts that
develop the Swahili language, our children will one day travel abroad to learn
this language-their mother tongue.’’ Only time will tell.
Hezekiel
Gikambi, co-author of Johari ya
Kiswahili series in Tanzania is a Swahili Scholar, multimedia journalist, lecturer,
and currently a PhD student in Swahili Language, Media and Technology at the Kenyatta
University in Kenya
