Swahili Children’s Literature in Contemporary Tanzania

Abstract

This article will explore the relationship between literature and education, between the oral and written genres, between nationalism, pluralism and internationalisation in Swahili children’s literature produced in Tanzania since the 1990’s. During the years of African Socialism (Ujamaa), Swahili literature was meant to promote the language and to disseminate socialist and nationalist ideas in Tanzanian society; however, the literature was fundamentally aimed at adults or young skilled readers. Since the end of Ujamaa, writers have explored the potential of literature in the field of education, producing original works in which they experiment with manipulation and contamination of modes, styles, narrative genres. These implicitly redefined national identity both in terms of cultural pluralism and of enhanced international relations.