Environmental and cultural reflections in Kanuri hunters' songs

Our dichotomy of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ is expressed in the Kanuri language with the terms al@ga for ‘creation’ and ‘creature’ which embraces trees, mammals, birds, insects, humans, in short the whole of the natural environment, and ada for ‘custom, habit, way of behaviour, family tradition’ for culture as a whole. There is no genre of oral literature, which would describe al@ga as such, but aspects of it can always be expressed in proverbs, riddles, toponymic praise phrases and songs, of which those performed by the hunters figure most prominently in reflecting upon al@ga. Yet, in these songs (and partly in other genres) ideas about al@ga are not purely descriptive in naturalists’ terms. They are much rather expressions, which centrally combine notions of the social and natural environment

Progressive Swahili bibliography (1990s - 2001)

Once more we can offer our readers some further titles of the Swahili- related research literature, some brand new in publication, others already out since years, yet still not yet put on record for the wider world of Swahilists. Our call for bibliographical references was hardly responded to by the readers of Swahili Forum VII and other possible contributors except for one scholar who much prefers to be `in consultation with` a certain other scholar. Therefore we once more would like to draw your attention to communicate your articles, books and other resources on Swahili studies to us so that the bibliographical section of the next Swahili Forum will be a treasure house again. Atiya koko wangue koma (Tiuow a fruit stone into the tree and you may bring down a doum-fruit). For the present issue we present all the titles which we happened to come across during one year of observation

Elisabeth Linnebuhr: Sprechende Tuecher. Frauenkleidung der Swahili (Ostafrika).

Women in East Africa appear to be in a unique position worldwide: their everyday dresses are not only significant in their habitual textile codes, but also as textures exhibiting meaningful verbal elements in complex density and seemingly endless variety These textual elements are proverbs or proverbial phrases written in Swahili, which seem to interact with the colour and design of the cloth (termed kanga), being either abstract or figurative in ornament, which the female wearer may choose according to cunent personal and interpersonal dispositions The paremiologist will find a traesury of signs, texts and contexts, which extend the conventional notions of literature and the verbal arts It appears rather curious to the reviewer that the Swahili proverb cloths have only recently come into scholarly focus, perhaps because of the meanwhile more advanced studies in gender relations and popular culture (though, for instance, truck slogans as another medium of proverb-like sentences were already recorded some 30 years ago

Swahili bibliopgraphy update and contents of Swahili Forum I - VIII

An update of Swahili bibliography and listing of articles of former issues of the Swahili Forum

Lubumbashi and Mayotte:: Two recent editions of Swahili-written chronicles. Book Reviews

Book Review of: Johannes Fabian (ed.), History from below. The vocabulary of Elisabethville. By Andre Yav. Text, Translations and interpretive essay (Creole Language Library, Vol.7). Edited, translated and commented by Johannes Fabian with assistance from Kalundi Mango. With linguistic notes by W. Schicho. Amsterdam- Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1990. 236 pp. Review of Noel-Jacques Gueunier (ed.), La chroniques Swahilie du Cad/Umari de Mayotte. Edition critique. (Recherches et Documents, 2).(Madagascar\''): Etablissement d\''Enseignement Superieur des Lettres (CEDRATOM),1989

Quantifying integrated proteomic responses to iron stress in the globally important marine diazotroph trichodesmium

Trichodesmium is a biogeochemically important marine cyanobacterium, responsible for a significant proportion of the annual ‘new’ nitrogen introduced into the global ocean. These non-heterocystous filamentous diazotrophs employ a potentially unique strategy of near-concurrent nitrogen fixation and oxygenic photosynthesis, potentially burdening Trichodesmium with a particularly high iron requirement due to the iron-binding proteins involved in these processes. Iron availability may therefore have a significant influence on the biogeography of Trichodesmium. Previous investigations of molecular responses to iron stress in this keystone marine microbe have largely been targeted. Here a holistic approach was taken using a label-free quantitative proteomics technique (MSE) to reveal a sophisticated multi-faceted proteomic response of Trichodesmium erythraeum IMS101 to iron stress. Increased abundances of proteins known to be involved in acclimation to iron stress and proteins known or predicted to be involved in iron uptake were observed, alongside decreases in the abundances of iron-binding proteins involved in photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation. Preferential loss of proteins with a high iron content contributed to overall reductions of 55–60% in estimated proteomic iron requirements. Changes in the abundances of iron-binding proteins also suggested the potential importance of alternate photosynthetic pathways as Trichodesmium reallocates the limiting resource under iron stress. Trichodesmium therefore displays a significant and integrated proteomic response to iron availability that likely contributes to the ecological success of this species in the ocean

A bibliography of Swahili literature, linguistics, culture and history: update 2003-2009

This bibliography is an update of Thomas Geider’s comprehensive bibliography of 100 pages which he published in Swahili Forum 10 (2003). Thomas Geider had almost finished it when he fell ill in April 2010. He left the manuscript when he passed away on 15 October 2010. It has been completed and edited by the editors of Swahili Forum, and comprises mainly works published between 2003 and 2009. Also included are some works published in 2001 and 2002 which came to Thomas Geider’s attention after he had completed his 2003 bibliography

Alain Ricard: Ebrahim Hussein. Theatre Swahili et nationalisme Tanzanien. Paris: Edition Karthala, 1998. 186pp., illustrated.: book review

A book review of `Ebrahim Hussein. Theatre Swahili et nationalisme Tanzanien´(1998) by Alain Ricard

Manuscripts in Swahili and other African languages.: Book Review.

Book Review of Ernst Dammann, Afrikanische Handschriften, Teil 1 - Handschriften in Swahili und anderen Sprachen Afrika

Swahili Forum in its 10th year – now online

The steady growth of research, teaching and publishing over the last twenty years on all continents has made Swahilistics a well established and much differentiated sub-discipline within African studies. Its object is the study of the language, literature, society, culture and history of the Swahili-speaking populations in East Africa and the diaspora and the usage of the language in transnational institutions and the internet