Divine Intervention in Muscat (KishorCariappa.com)
Great find from KishorCariappa.com:
October 23, 2009
October 22, 2009
Omani Proverb(s) of the Day
As a new feature of the site, I will post some Omani proverbs in Arabic culled from the web as well a book in the Sultan Qaboos Library's Omani Room. Hope you enjoy them:
For these two I owe Ayna from the Sabla Forums
ماعندها جدر تطبخ وثوبها من الزّري يرطخ
Translation: She doesn't have a pot to cook with, but her dress sparkles with crystals.
ثيابه مصقولة وجيوبه منخولة
Translation: His clothes are fresh and ironed. His pockets are empty.
The connotations of both Proverbs are the same.
Jangbarias: Shi'a Communities in Zanzibar (Website)
Its truly a pleasure to bring to your attention this award-winning website about Indian communities, specifically Shi'a Indian communities in Zanzibar. check it here
Swahili Online (Website)
Another interesting and well-designed resource for Swahili culture. The layout is clean and easy to navigate. Their section also include a good section on Swahili language. Check it here
October 15, 2009
Pambazuka : a tribute to Mwalimu Nyerere
Check it OUT! A whole issue from Pambazuka devoted to the life and thought of Mwalimu Nyerere. Great stuff here.
Pambazuka - How we wish you were here: a tribute to Mwalimu Nyerere
Shared via AddThis
October 13, 2009
Happy Nyerere Day
From Louder than Swahili
Hongera sana kwa Baba wa Taifa, Julius Nyerere. Kwenye siku kuu Watanzania wansherehekea maisha ya Rais ya Kwanza Tanzania. Amefariki tarehe October 14, 1999.
Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi Rajiun.
Here you can read Mwalimu Nyerere's "Arusha Declaration," a very inspiring statement of the principles Nyerere believed an independent Tanzania should move forward with in order to develop. Read more...
October 12, 2009
Books for African Universities (email from Martin Klein)
Good suggestions. I definitely concur with supporting by donating to the Zanzibar Indian Ocean Research Institute, run by Dr. Sheriff (see below)
From: Martin Klein
On the subject of books for Africa, I am responding to the list instead
of just to the author of the original query. Any university in Africa
needs books. Most have no budget for book purchases. They especially
need books that do not deal with Africa. I have for over ten years been
shipping books to Africa. The biggest problem is the cost of shipping.
Even with the resources of the internet available, it is important that
African universities and the broader intellectual communities of which
they are part have access to books. Unfortunately, in Canada, there is
no institution that will to help with shipping costs. I have simply seen
the cost of shipping as payback for the warmth and hospitality with
which I have been received in various African countries. There is in
some cases a question of the postal system. In one case, I had no
evidence that a shipment to Mali actually arrived. In another case, a
friend suggested that security at a small university library was
inadequate. Still, there are many recipients who inspire great
confidence. There are many conscientious librarians all over Africa, and
most post offices seem reliable.
My suggestion to anyone is that they check either check a library out
with a friend, former student or one-time colleague or that they write
the library. My current favorite is a research institute run by Abdul
Sheriff in Zanzibar (asheriff@zitec.org). (He established the The Zanzibar Indian Ocean Research Institute
(ZIORI - http://www.ziori.org/) a couple of years ago, to which he
donated his own quite substantial library, and which promises to
become a focal point for researchers in East Africa.) If the books are not
appropriate to his library, he forwards them to the University of
Zanzibar Library. I have also given books to the University of Western
Cape, the University of Zambia and the University of the Zambia, but in
some cases, the greatest need is in newer or smaller libraries.
I started giving when I retired and had to move my library home. I gave
away about 16 to 18 boxes of books. Then shortly before I arrived in
Australia, the chair of the history department died. Neither his wife,
nor the Australian National University library were interested in his
library, the majority of which consisted of general works on American
history. I wrote friends and after confirming that they taught American
history, arranged shipments to four African universities. Though I was
willing to pay, the ANU history programme generously took on the costs
of shipment.
The heart of a university humanities is books and teachers. Most African
universities have teachers. They are often hungry for books.
October 7, 2009
Untitled Artwork
Monk brings us a dope piece of history through art. I told him he ought to call this one "They Came Before Columbus." You can also check out more of Monk's work.
October 6, 2009
Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Paradise is a little book about a boy named Yusuf who grows into manhood in East Africa. As a coming of age story it is remarkably simple and straightforward, but the way in which Abdulrazak Gurnah illuminates the tremendous historical changes sweeping around Yusuf, and does so while still maintaining the narrative integrity of his man-child protagonist, is simply breathtaking.
Yusuf starts out in a provincial town in the East African interior, the son of a poor hotel owner. He is mortgaged by his father to pay his deepening debt to a man Yusuf knows only as Uncle Aziz. Yusuf travels in the care of Uncle Aziz to the coast, where he befriends Khalil, another debt-slave whose has secrets Yusuf will eventually discover.
Yusuf is an exceptionally beautiful boy and a very sensitive observer who cries at visions he sees in his dreams. His journeys in Paradise mirror two processes which bound the interiors of Eastern Africa to the Western Indian Ocean--one a process of the migration (often via slavery) and subsequent Islamization of upcountry Africans, and the other a venturing into the interior as far as Eastern Congo by armed bands of Swahili-Arab traders.
Gurnah's description of life on the caravan road is illuminative and he vividly portrays the 'utani' relationship of sly joking and storytelling by which the porters structured the monotony of the march. He also gives one of the richest explorations (through dialogue) of the fantastic dimensions of East African Islamic mythology, in which the 'washenzi' lurk in the lands of Gog and Magog waiting to destroy the believers and dragons, birds, jinns, and ghosts all inhabit a universe in intimate interaction with humans. Finally in the background are the Germans, a brooding silent foreboding force who everyone around Yusuf speaks of with trepidation, and who intervene at a key point in the novel. Gurnah accurately captures the ambigous status of Yusuf as grows up on the eve of European colonial rule, and searches for a way out of his dependency. His unexpected decision ends the book abruptly, almost breathlessly, but somehow completely appropriately. In this single last sentence, Gurnah has somehow captured what Jonathan Glassman calls "the contradictory dimensions of slave resistance," the moral dilemma through which Yusuf will shape an independent destiny for himself. Paradise more than lives up to his name and will offer students of East African history and literature a beautiful and compelling read.
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