Arabic characters and Latin alphabet
There are almost as many languages spoken in Tanzania as there are ethnic groups - over a hundred in fact. However, it is Kiswahili (the language of the coast) - and more precisely Kinguja from Zanzibar - that is the "vehicular" language, i.e. the one used for communication, since it was declared official and national at the instigation of Julius Nyerere. This Creole was born of the encounter between an ancient language, which some believe originated near the Ngozi volcano, and the vocabulary of the Arab merchants who, in the 10th century, intensified their relations with the Bantu peoples.
Contrary to popular belief, African languages have been written for a very long time, and indeed Arabic characters were used to transcribe Kiswahili as early as the 11th century on coins and tombstones. From the 17th century onwards, more literary forms appeared, such as the translation of theHamziya, an Arabic hymn to the prophet, which is thought to date from 1652, or theUtendi (or Utenzi: epic poem) known as wa Tambuka, which is thought to date from 1728. This epic, which recounts the exploits of Mohammed's warriors, is said to have been written on the island of Pate, in Kenya, in Kiamu (a northern dialect), but also contains passages in Kiunguja. Kiswahili poetry, which was taking off at the time, not only drew on Islamic history and philosophy, but also on local legends. The heroic figure of Fumo Liyongo thus nourished both oral tradition and an important corpus of manuscripts.
In 1860, three French priests landed in Zanzibar and headed for the mainland. They were the first in a long procession of missionaries, in turn German, British and American, to establish congregations in East Africa. This had a decisive impact on Kiswahili, the language they used to import their culture and religion, which was henceforth written in Latin characters.
While an initial grammar had been published by the White Fathers in 1882, the work carried out by Charles Sacleux of the Order of the Holy Spirit was far-reaching: in addition to his passion for botany, he edited the first Swahili-French dictionary, set about transcribing Arabic manuscripts, and continued his study of dialects long after he had to leave Bagamoyo to return to Chevilly. While the Zanzibarite slave trader Tippo Tip (1837-1905) marked the linguistic and cultural transition in his own way by writing his autobiography in Arabic characters, without the slightest allusion to Islam, and then transposing it back into Latin characters, it is Shaaban Robert who will be recognized as the father of modern Kiswahili literature.
From the 20th to the 21st century
Born in 1909 in Tanga, he had a career in the colonial administration, which he describes in Maisha yangu, the story of his life. But Shaaban Robert also became a poet, first publishing in newspapers, then editing a collection in 1947. While retaining Arabic metre, his preferred themes were to break away from those explored by Swahili Islamic literature. He went so far as to use social criticism, reflecting on the issues of national identity and discrimination, in an innovative prose that flirted with the essay. A member of theEast African Swahili Committe, which was set up in 1930 to establish a standardized language and which he joined in 1946, he wrote some twenty works, but only one has so far been translated into French: his autobiography, published by Karthala.
In the same vein, Mathias Mnyampala (1917-1969) abandoned his native language, Cigogo, to take part in the creation of a new literature, thus supporting Julius Nyerere's decision to use Kiswahili at the time of Tanganyika's independence and the creation of Tanzania (1964), as an opportunity to create a common identity capable of supplanting English and avoiding ethnic divisions. Mnyampala's writings were therefore not afraid to become political, with Waadhi wa ushairi(Poetic Exhortations) in 1960 and Mashari ya hekima(Poems of Wisdom) in 1965. He also invented a poetic form in rhymed septains, the ngongera, and was involved in the creation of UKUTA, the Swahili poets' association.
The 1940s saw the emergence of a generation of writers more independent of the government. In the field of theater, we should mention Edwin Semzaba, who won numerous honors, but above all Ebrahim Hussein, born in 1943. Hussein first came to prominence in 1969 with his first play, Kinjeketile, about Maji Maji, a warlord who rebelled against colonial rule. Two years later, he followed this up with Mashetani, a play that scratches at the post-independence period using a surrealist approach. From then on, he never ceased to be interested in political issues, as in Arusi (1980), which is as critical as it is disillusioned.
In his novels, Euphrase Kezilahabi (1945-2020) also pondered the limits of Tanzanian socialism (Ujamaa), but shifted the focus to individual psychology, as in Rosa Mistika (1971) and Gamba la nyoka (1979). Leaving behind the realism of his early novels, which were sometimes mingled with clever mirror games, he opened up to the postmodernism of the United States, where he had spent time, in Nagona (1990) and Mzingile (1991), two initiation stories.
William E. Mkufya, born in 1953, was honored for Ua la Faraja (2004), in which he uses his adopted city, Dar es Salaam, as a backdrop, and the AIDS epidemic as a pretext for tackling the question of loss of identity in a society where foreign influence generates the oblivion of traditions. Author of novels for adults, he also writes for children. Indeed, children's literature is booming, pursuing a key educational objective and giving women a voice. One of the most famous is Elieshi Lema, who is also a publisher. In her publications, she uses suspense to attract the attention of young readers, but also tackles serious subjects such as female circumcision. She has delved into the feminist question in an adult novel translated into French under the title Terre aride. Penina Muhando and Amandina Lihamba have also launched their theatrical careers, skilfully evoking societal issues such as decolonization, women's rights and independence.
