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by Sunday-Joseph Otengho (Author)
This book is about Kiswahili as a national language of a United Africa. Kiswahili has played a bigger role in supplementing East Africa allegiances and common commercial culture owing to Islamization and Christianization. The language was first associated with the legacy of the mosque before it was later mobilized to serve the purposes of the Christian church, especially in countries that would become Kenya and Tanzania. The coastal regions of these countries were heavily Islamized centuries before the arrival of Europeans. The language facilitated social intercourse among Muslims from different ethnic groups and regions and gradually built up a comprehensive culture of its own over and above the normal function of languages as mere medium of communication.Consequently, Swahili culture was born with its own touch of Islam, its own worldview, its own dress culture, its own cuisine, its own ethics, and aesthetics. Most significantly, Swahili culture did not become a parochial form of ethnicity because it was a child of multiple heritages combining and synthesizing Africa, India, Portuguese, and Arab cultural elements. As a machine of communication among many cultures, ethnicities, and traditions, Kiswahili contributed to the expanding network of affiliations of the peoples of East Africa and Central Africa. By the time European missionaries arrived, Kiswahili had substantially become the only language of choice to propagate the new religion. The vocabulary of monotheism, inherent in both Islam and Christianity, had already been established and embedded in the Kiswahili language and culture. This role helped Kiswahili to broaden the social and human horizons of East and Central African nationalities beyond the confines of their ancestral identities.At independence, Kiswahili provided a consciousness of unity among the East African populations. Nationalism in East Africa was not a fight against racism but rather a consciousness of a race that shared a history of exploitation and domination by Europeans. Nationalism was more of a case of politicized race-consciousness than a case of racism against Europeans. Kiswahili played an important role in this new phenomenon of African nationalism and resistance to colonial imperialism and colonialism. Therefore, Kiswahili should and must play a role in the redefinition and reconstruction of Africa's unity, identity, and liberation. At a time when Africa is at the process of redefining its role within itself and to the outside world, it is only befitting that Kiswahili should be adapted and evoked to forge the most needed unity within an ethnically and linguistically complex continent.The aim of this book is twofold: to offer a justification for Kiswahili as the official language for a federated Africa and to render the teaching and study of classical Kiswahili simple and interesting. With these ideas in mind, I have set my hand to the task of presenting a manual that will enable anyone interested in Africa and her peoples to learn a language that will contribute to a greater understanding of the aforementioned as well as open up a door of opportunity and communication that will broaden the learner's horizons in every area of life. May you find a new and exciting world unfold before you as you begin this task of language learning. I Invite you to enter the world of an emerging continent.
