This archive report was first published on 9 May 2020.
On May 9, 2020, Prof Evan Mwangi shared his reflections on the passing of Ken Walibora, a renowned writer and scholar. Prof Bukenya, a leading East African scholar of English and literature, was moved to respond to Prof Mwangi's thoughts, defending the use of Kiswahili by writers from outside the coast region.
Prof Bukenya begins by acknowledging his own connection to Kiswahili, having learned the language from the streets of Dar es Salaam. He argues that being a Mswahili is not limited to one's ethnic or regional origins, but rather is a matter of language and culture.
Prof Bukenya takes issue with Prof Mwangi's suggestion that writers from outside the coast region are trying to imitate a Kiswahili 'dialect' imposed by colonialists and missionaries. He notes that Kiswahili is a trans-boundary language with a significant percentage of its vocabulary derived from Arabic, and that mastering the language requires acquiring a fair amount of its vocabulary, including Arabic-derived terms.
Prof Bukenya also addresses the issue of standardisation, noting that while the missionaries and colonial administrators may have handled the process incorrectly, standardisation is a necessary aspect of maintaining mutual intelligibility across different dialects. He argues that standardisation is a continuous process in a living language like Kiswahili.
Prof Bukenya concludes by defending the use of Kiswahili by writers from outside the coast region, arguing that they should be valued and evaluated by the competence of their Kiswahili rather than their regional origins. He ends by expressing his solidarity with Prof Mwangi and his colleagues, and by reaffirming his commitment to writing in Kiswahili.
