Language and Identity in Hausa-Kiswahili Literature - Hausa International Book and Arts Festival

Panel Context

Hausa and Kiswahili are currently among the most widely spread languages –after Arabic- in Africa. This is due to their usage in political, religious, cultural and social areas, and their relevance to the society. The debate over the language of African literature has continued to generate significant interest ever since the emergence of writing in European languages. Discussions of this debate have in the past often highlighted the inherently normative character of the idea of an African literature in African languages. African literature has taken the form of a discourse about faithfulness to African roots that ignores its own roots directing attention towards the relationship between language and identity in African literature. In this conversation we will explore the role played by Hausa and Kiswahili in the emergence of a literature identified as African by its practitioners. How can we trace the complex connection between debates about language and the development of African literature? Can we examine the nature of the relationship between language and ethnic identity in Hausa and Kiswahili literatures?

Panelists

Doseline Kiguru is a researcher with an interest in literary texts and their production mechanisms. Her research engages with cultural and literary production in Africa with a focus on different literary platforms such as publishing and prize industries, book fairs and festivals, literary magazines and writers’ organisations, while exploring the networks they create and the effects that they have on contemporary African literary production. She is currently a Lecturer in World Literatures in English at the University of Bristol.

Prof. Dr. Abdalla Uba Adamu holds double professorships in Science Education (1997) and Media and Cultural Communication (2012) from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. He is domiciled in the Department of Information and Media Studies, Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He served as the Vice-Chancellor (President) of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) from 2016 to 2021. His main research focus is on transnational media flows and their impact on the transformation of Muslim Hausa popular culture especially in literature, film, music and performing arts.

Munyao Kilolo is the Founder and Editor in chief of Ituĩka, a literary platform devoted to African Languages and Translation. He also works as the projects officer at the Ngugi wa Thiong’o Foundation and as director of the Safal-Cornell Kiswahili Prize. Each of these projects are in service of African Languages. He previously served as the Managing Editor of Jalada Africa, where he conceptualized and led their inaugural translation project. The project saw one story, originally written in Gikuyu, translated into 100 languages. His writing in his mother tongue, Kiikamba, has been published in the 26th issue of Absinthe: World Literature in Translation.

Moderator

Richard Ali, a Nigerian lawyer, is Project Manager of Engaging Borders Africa. In February 2021, he was named Managing Editor of Nairobi-based pan-African arts collective, Jalada Africa Trust.