BARAZA - Swahili studies conference
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
9:30 am to 6:00 pm
- Venue
- SOAS University of London
- Room
- Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
About this event
BARAZA is an annual 1-day conference that addresses the language, literature, translation, culture, philosophy, or diaspora of the Swahili-speaking peoples of the world.
This year, we bring the Swahili Pedagogy Roundtable for Swahili language teachers, on the day before the conference.
Programme
Opening
| Time | Event | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30am-9:50am | Registration - BGLT foyer | |
| 9:50am-10am | Welcome remarks | Ida Hadjivayanis and Angelica Baschiera – Co-convenors |
Panel 1 - Linguistics
| Time | Event | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 10am-10:20am | 'The ‘Swahili Coast’ revisited: variation, varieties and language in use' | Hannah Gibson (Essex), Lutz Marten (SOAS) and Teresa Poeta (Essex) |
| 10:20am-10:40am | Linguistic Variation in Swahili on Twitter in Tanzania – Initial Findings Presentation | Thomas Summers (SOAS) |
| 10:40am-11am | Swahilization in progress: Contact and convergence between Mijikenda languages and Swahili | Nico Nassenstein (Mainz), David Barasa (Kakamega), Axel Fanego Palat (Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt), Angelika Mietzner (Cologne) & Laura Nassenstein (Goethe Universitat Frankfurt) |
| 11am-11:15am | Revisiting Swahili Obstruents: A Sociophonetic Analysis of Regional Variations | Dr Mohammad Abdulaziz Alsamaani (Qassim University, Saudi Arabia) & Dr Stephen Winters (Calgary University, Canada) |
| 11:15am-11:35am | Q &A and Coffee break |
Panel 2 - Contemporary Swahili World
| Time | Event | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 11.35am-11:55pm | Philosophical Journeys: Filming African Philosophy in Prague | Alena Rettova (Bayreuth) |
| 11:55am-12:15pm | A Tanzanian Buddhist Congregation & Cosmopolitan Ethics on the Swahili Coast | Theo Stapleton (Cambridge) |
| 12:15pm-12.35pm | “Black and white stories”: describing the contents of a “witchdoctor’s bag” from Pemba | Martin Walsh (Sheffield) |
| 12.35pm-12:55pm | Queer Words, Queer Worlds: Swahili Lexicons and Identity Formation Among Gay Men in Dar es Salaam” | Vincenzo Straface (Leipzig) |
| 12:55pm-1:10pm | Q&A | |
| 1:10pm-2:30pm | Swahili Lunch – Paul Webley Wing, Atrium |
Panel 3 - Literature and Publication
| Time | Event | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 2:30pm-2:50pm | Exploring Intertextual links to Sacred Texts in Farouk Topan’s Plays | Cristina Nicolini (Turin) |
| 2:50pm-3:20pm | Fasihi ya Kiswahili katika ukomboaji wa Ontolojia za Mwafrika : Uchanganuzi wa tamthilia nne za Said Mohamed | Arthur Muhia ( Hungary) |
| 3:20pm-3:55pm | #TuzoChallenge –The first collaborative Swahili online novel on Facebook (Tanzania) | Uta Reuster-Jahn (Hamburg) |
| 3:55pm-4:10pm | Mtandao na Fasihi ya Kiswahili: Baina ya Kuhuisha na Kufifisha | Mohammed Khelef Ghassany (Deutche Welle) |
| 4.10pm-4:25pm | Mystical Power and Politics on the Swahili Coast: Uchawi in Pemba | Nathalie Arnold Koenings (Hampshire) |
| 4:25pm - 4:40pm | Book Launch (and Q&A) |
Panel 4 - Art and Heritage
| Time | Event | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 4:40pm-5pm | Chembelecho? Contemporary Art and Swahili Taswira/Public Images of Past Heritage in Kenya | Donald Maingi (Lewisham) |
| 5pm-5.20pm | Grasping for Ghosts: A search for indigenous East African Cloth | Flora Mutuku (Morley) |
| 5:20pm-5:40pm | Using alliance and genealogy to conduct trade | Gill Shepherd (LSE) |
| 5:40pm-5:50pm | Q&A | |
| 5:50pm-6pm | Closing Remarks | Ida Hadjivayanis and Angelica Baschiera (SOAS) |
The Conference is organized by the SOAS Centre of African Studies (CAS) and the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics (SCLC), SOAS University of London.
Image credit: Robin Batista via Shutterstock.
