Aaron L. Rosenberg

The Wordy Worlds of Popular Music in Eastern and Southern Africa: Possible Implications for Language-in-Education Policy

Language-in-education policy in Africa is replete with debate regarding the use of standard African languages as part of mother-tongue education. An issue inadequately addressed within this debate is the role and function of urban vernaculars which have become “the” mother tongue of the greater part of Africas population. Using data from the lyrics of popular music from eastern and southern African songwriters as an instance of ground-level language practices, this article argues that, to the extent that urban vernaculars and standard African languages act as international languages in popular music, there is justification for using urban vernaculars as languages of instruction. The extensive use of urban vernaculars in popular music has led to its popularity, and if these urban vernaculars are used as part of mother tongue education, socio-cultural relations between the school and society may improve. Despite the fact that educational strategies based on language practices in popular songs subvert social hierarchy, the use of urban vernaculars reshapes and blurs linguistic boundaries and, thus, constructs plurilingual identities. Using urban vernaculars not only provides access to education for a large portion of the population but also consolidates “glocal” identities while affirming cultural roots.

Form and Theme as Unifying Principles in Tanzanian Verbal Art

Recent research by James Ogude and Joyce Nyairo demonstrates that the debate surrounding the viability of songs as ‘serious cultural production’ (1) has long been hampered by proscriptive attitudes about the inherent value of ‘Western modes of creation’ (2) and the necessity of preserving and appreciating traditionally based forms of expression. Songs created in emergent forms, employing Western instruments and technologies and, oftentimes, incorporating compositional elements from throughout Africa and the globe have, consequently, received short shrift. Examination of the narrative techniques employed within works of verbal expression by Tanzanian artists reveals the extent to which novel and song can and often do exploit similar compositional techniques. These works may also explore topics which are fundamentally analogous and of manifest relevance to readers and listeners. That these hypertextual motifs and narrative choices manifest themselves across generic boundaries and within written and oral/aural forms of expression is compelling evidence of the salient connections between songs and other verbal art from East Africa. These similarities raise a variety of questions, the answers to which are central to understanding how verbal forms of artistic expression are made integral to the public and personal lives of East Africans. In what ways are the works under consideration formally similar? How do the analogous thematic emphases in both novel and song reveal the ability of artists in both written and oral/aural media to create works which demonstrate inherent hypertextuality? To what extent are the voices created in these texts bound by gender and what does this tell us about historical and contemporary social norms in Tanzania? This paper will focus on two works of Tanzanian verbal/ musical art demonstrating significant points of confluence. It is my contention that the song and novel, while not influencing one another directly, demonstrate a complex form of interaction due to the fact that they have been crafted by individuals living in the same geographic area and responding to the same societal pressures. The works under consideration are the novel Parched Earth (2001) by Elieshi Lema and the song ‘Mnanionyesha Njia ya Kwetu’ (1984) or ‘You are Showing Me the Way to My Parents’ Home’ by Orchestra DDC Mlimani Park. These are two works which display important points of confluence in terms of their narrative praxis; that is to say, the perspectives from which they are ‘spoken’ and the messages they ultimately convey to their respective audiences relating to the institutionalisation and exercise of gender and power in Tanzanian communities. In keeping with my attempt to present a unified, if only microcosmic, picture of Tanzanian verbal expression through the analysis of a few works, I will dissect these artistic narratives and explore their constituent elements and intentions on a variety of levels. As there are relevant performative and socio-cultural aspects to these works as well as their intellectual and literary features, it is necessary to consider these in conjunction so as to comprehend the complex ways in which such narratives are interrelated and are able to be fruitfully deployed within their communities of reception. This is done to ensure that we do not lose Aaron L Rosenberg

The Literature of Song: Kantai and Wainaina’s “Joka” as Syncretic Multi-Text

By some estimates Kenyan art, and in particular the verbal arts, are going through a renaissance. As Binyavanga Wainaina stated four years ago, these creative impulses mark the indigenous expressive power of the Kenyan people themselves and, while these works of art may make use of foreign techniques, technology and formal characteristics, they are not controlled by them (2003: 6). Scholars have also noted the development of new and potentially radical trends within Kenyan literary discourse. Grace Musila has stressed that An interesting development in East African literary studies has been the increasing critical attention paid to popular literature and popular culture. Recent critical writing in the region desists from treating popular literature as a database for sociology; rather opens them up to literaryanalysis with an innovation to match the works themselves. (2006: 77)

Afro-Mexicans: discourse of race and identity in the African diaspora

the face of oppression’ (p. 377). While I heartily agree with Afolabi on this count, I also feel that his argument would be considerably strengthened by a demonstration of precisely the ways in which such artistic creativity has been deployed by Brazilians themselves in order to gain solace or political satisfaction in the midst of such oppressive circumstances. Additionally, I think that it is worth explaining to the reader at some point in the text the reasons for selecting the media which are focused upon here to the exclusion of others. While Afolabi’s training and previous publications certainly do mark him as a literary scholar (he has, for example, published more than once in Research in African Literatures), he does deal with songs and cinematic production here while ignoring the plastic arts. Finally, I understand that Afolabi is here proposing a textual analysis and therefore expends the majority of his energies on a close reading of the texts concerned, with a few fleeting interventions from the artists themselves. Though this is in keeping with what might be perceived as a standard process of literary analysis, it hardly needs emphasizing here that Afolabi’s study is anything but standard in its sweep and proffered objectives. A more thorough and systematic consideration of the opinions of the Brazilian people themselves together with those who determine and dictate policy in Brazil would at crucial points invigorate and deepen our understanding of the various ways in which these cultural artefacts can be deployed in the day to day arenas of social discourse and other interactions in Brazil and its diasporas. In summary, then, Afolabi’s study will undoubtedly be a valuable resource for those interested in African diaspora studies, lusophone South American studies and cultural studies, as a result of the valuable series of comparative analyses carried out. Such explorations, however, will, undoubtedly, benefit from further contextualization and theoretical correlation through nonliterary sources.

Living for the city: urban displacement and incarceration in Wright's 'Native Son' and Rajabu's 'Masudi'

One of the neglected areas of globalization studies is the movement of people within countries. In post-colonial African nations and the antebellum United States, migration patterns have often been to urban areas. Two creative works which bear witness to these relocations are Richard Wrights novel Native Son and Marijani Rajabus popular song ‘Masudi’. Both works confront the alienation and incarceration of young black men who find themselves unable to integrate into the urban geographies of Chicago and Dar es Salaam through different rhetorical strategies orchestrated in order to precipitate realizations in their respective audiences. Mojawapo ya malengo yasiosisitizwa katika masomo ya utandawazi ni yale yanayohusiana na uhamiaji wa watu ndani ya nchi zao. Kwenye nchi za Afrika baada ya uhuru na nchi ya Marekani baada ya tarikhi ya utumwa uhamiaji wingi ulikuwa ukielekea kwenye miji mikubwa. Kazi mbili za ubunifu ambazo hushuhudia uhamiaji huo ni riwaya ya Native Son ya Richard Wright na wimbo wa “Masudi” uliotungwa na Marijani Rajabu. Kazi hizo zote mbili zinakabiliana na kutengwa na kufungwa jela kwa vijana wawili weusi ambao wanajikuta hawawezi kujijumlisha na majiografia ya miji ya Chicago na Dar es Salaam. Wasanii hawa hutumia mbinu za balagha za tofauti ili kusababisha matekelezo akilini mwa hadhira zao binafsi. Maneno maalum: mahusiano kati ya nakala; uhamiaji; masomo ya Afrika; kufananisha mbinu za fasihi; masomo ya kustaarabika mjini