Browsing by Author "Kipacha, Ahmad"

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Developing an Understanding of Traditional Maasai Water Practices and Technologies
(Brill, 2023-11) Rwiza, Mwemezi; Martin, Haikael; Kipacha, Ahmad
The African traditional knowledges and knowledge systems are on the brink of extinc- tion. The indigenous knowledge of Africa has not been extensively studied and docu- mented. In sub-Saharan Africa, the supremacy of colonial education in higher learning education has been responsible for erasing traditional knowledge. It is against this backdrop that a team of researchers from the Nyerere Knowledge for Change (K4C) Hub set out to investigate how traditional knowledges and modern, mainstream ways of knowing can be bridged. The study we report on was conducted in collaboration with the Maasai village leaders of Nduruma Village in Arusha, Northern Tanzania. Village committee meetings, interviews, group discussions, photograph taking, video recording, voice recording, and direct observation were among the methods used to gain knowledge on the Maasai traditional technologies of water management. The information gathered and shared in this case study contributes to building mutually beneficial expert-community partnerships.
Nihilism and Postproverbials in Euphrase Kezilahabi’s Poetry Anthology 'Dhifa' ('Feast')
(NM-AIST, 2021-09-30) Olali, Tom; Kipacha, Ahmad
This paper discusses nihilism and postproverbials as exhibited, and how occasionally they occur pari passu, in a postmodern Swahili anthology of Dhifa, published in 2008 and authored by Euphrase Kezilahabi. Nihilism is “the radical repudiation of value, meaning and desirability” (Nietzsche Friedrich 7). It is a doctrine of skepticism that negates among others, idealism, mythology, arbitrary morality, and sacred values while maintaining that established institutions based on these beliefs must be destroyed. It is a populist notion and a philosophical orientation that interrogates the meaning of life and sees life as being hopeless and meaningless. On the other hand, postproverbials are “radicalized proverbial utterances which subvert the logic and the pattern of conventional proverbs, and aim to supplement an essentially traditionalist imagination with an iconographic and modernist consciousness” (Raji-Oyelade Aderemi 49). Both forms aim to repudiate or subvert the established mantra or ethos. Justification for our contention of the proposed point of convergence between these strands is demonstrated in the innovative manipulation of Swahili proverbial logics and symbolism by Kezilahabi in his many works, and in particular, Dhifa. We present evidence of how Kezilahabi turns the conventional form of Swahili proverbs which normally serves as a vital medium to prescribe and proscribe the code of conduct of the people around to postproverbials, which are in essence, structured in a more unconventional form. Kezilahabi uses the same path to advocate his new beliefs, and values them through postproverbials or anti- proverbs1.We are determined to show in this paper that the use of postproverbials is a key weapon that Kezilahabi harbours in his anti-platitudinous maneuvering to precisely drive his agenda. Our rationale is derived from parallelism we noted between Dhifa andThus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885) by Friedrich Nietzsche (2006)
Sniffing Oriental Aromatic Scents: The Perfumery Trope in Eroticized Swahili Odes.
(Journal of the Institute of Kiswahili Studies, 2020) Olali, Tom; Kipacha, Ahmad
Swahili poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have foregrounded adapted perfumery customs with great reverence in their works. It functions as a vital cue to trans-Indian Ocean commonalities and as a marker of the influence of Arabian-Manga civilisation and perfumery practices on the Swahili customs. This paper examines the culture of scent in selected poetic works attributed to Fumo Liyongo and Mwana Kupona Mshamu. Interestingly, the geography of the female body parts is fused with oriental scents to excite consensual romantic intimacy. We argue, besides historically echoing the sensuousness of oriental perfumery in Swahili culture, that these two poets subliminally de-odorise body, mind and soul of their readers to experience imagery of passionate intimacy. Specifically, this article intends to focus on two prominent motifs of cross- cultural adornment: the use of Manga attar unguent, fragrance and perfume, and the scenting of genitalia. The article confronts these postulations concretised on an approach based on Georges Bataille’s theory of eroticism. According to Carl Olson, Bataille was an influential French postmodern thinker and writer who argued that human life could best be understood by the interconnections and workings of eroticism (1994:231-250). He mixes philosophy and anthropology to talk about eroticism. According to Minguy, Bataille, through erotic transgressions, saw the possibility for true human freedom and communication. This theory, therefore, guides our arguments and counter-arguments,in the present article. It is the fulcrum upon which our discussions are premised.