Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Swahili manuscripts and the study of Swahili literature
Authors:Biersteker, A.ISNI
Plane, Mark
Year:1989
Periodical:Research in African Literatures
Volume:20
Issue:3
Pages:449-472
Language:English
Geographic term:East Africa
Subjects:manuscripts
Swahili language
literature
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3819176
Abstract:A vast number of Swahili manuscripts are known to exist, and there have been numerous studies dealing with manuscript sources. The authors contend that greater realization of the potential value of these sources for the study of East African literature will be enhanced by: 1) Clarification and redefinition of the roles and contributions of different types of intellectual endeavour to the study of Swahili manuscripts and other literature. To this end, the authors review the history of Swahili manuscript and literary study. 2) Refinement and development of the scholarly apparatus for Swahili manuscript study. Procedures including textual, paleographic, technical and linguistic analyses have to be developed, as well as sociological studies of manuscript production and dissemination. 3) Consideration of manuscript sources within the broader context of the Swahili and East African literary traditions of which they are a part. Relationships between contemporary oral and written texts and earlier manuscript texts have yet to be considered in the study of Swahili literature. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
Views
Cover