Classic Somali literature

[Safferz]

Alpha Blondy;941263 wrote:

technically speaking, this anthology of sorts is not Somali in origin. it was written by whites. cala kuli xaal...NONSENSE.

It's not written by a white person, neither is it an anthology. It's an autobiography written in English by a Somali, with an introduction and historical context written by the British academic who found it and published it in its entirety.

[Alpha Blondy]

^ ok. thanks for clarifying. but its still written in English and its highly probable....... this secondary source, is not 100% 'concrete' Somali, since it was written posthumously. 100% or nothing, inaar.

 

p.s - i meet and conversed with the son of Richard Pankhurst. alula was his name.

[Coofle]

There is another Book Written by the same author Faarax Cawl in the late 80s "Dhibbanaha aan dhalan" Great book....

Also the classic Somali Novel.....The pride and Prejudice of Somali literature "Ayaan-daran" is another good read.

[Safferz]

Alpha Blondy;941305 wrote:

^ ok. thanks for clarifying. but its still written in English and its highly probable....... this secondary source, is not 100% 'concrete' Somali, since it was written posthumously. 100% or nothing, inaar.

 

p.s - i meet and conversed with the son of Richard Pankhurst. alula was his name.

lol it wasn't written posthumously, it was published posthumously. It is a primary source. Why not read the document before speculating Alpha?

[SomaliPhilosopher]

Coofle, do you know where I can find those books?

[Coofle]

SomaliPhilosopher;941323 wrote:

Coofle, do you know where I can find those books?

Although Cyber reading is not equivalent to reading a book while sitting under gob tree, leaning your back to the stem and drinking shaax from koob farasle ah....I would recommend you hit the nearest Somali Bookstore and get them , if that is not possible there is a terrible low quality copies in the link below.

http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/nt/db.cgi?db=somalia&do=search_results&sb=allfield&allfield=&type=zzzzz

[Alpha Blondy]

Safferz;941315 wrote:

lol it wasn't written posthumously, it was published posthumously. It is a primary source. Why not read the document before speculating Alpha?

surely, you can't possibly think this 'work' was given the green light by the somali fellow? NO, he didn't give the green light.... because he was already DEAD. our culture is oral. we didn't write, especially in 1928. whether posthumously published or written, it makes no difference. the point remains, such materials are often written from a eurocentric standpoint with the further added insult of seeking to denigrating our rice and beautiful culture. how can you possibly take the work of a white man SERIOUS, with a predisposed engendered view,.... and particularly so, given the period, in which, this 'work' was written. 1928!

 

kulaha ''The Life and Adventures of a Somali" .... classic 19th century colonial thinking..... the same thinking that caricatured and oversimplified entire cultures and peoples as docile imbeciles, ripe for civilising and indeed worthy of colonalising. i don't need to read this 'work' as it served a political purpose. thanks for the offer, inaar....... but i REFUSE to read such filth. for our cordial relations, you ought to refrain from posting such NONSENSE under the guise of scholarship. i'm utterly dismayed, and indeed disappointed..... that you could possibly think that....... you can shove this NONSENSE in Alpha's face. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[SomaliPhilosopher]

Alpha are you familiar with the Somali migration to Cardiff in the late 19th/ early 20th century? I may be wrong, but from the first couple of pages, I believe the author was apart of that wave. In such case it is perfectly plausible.

[Safferz]

Alpha, colonial thinking is the assumption that Africans did not and cannot write or think for themselves, which is what makes recovering these old texts produced by Somalis all the more historically significant. It is true that Somali society is predominantly an oral one, but that's not to say that some people were not literate in other languages and wrote in those scripts, either in those languages themselves or to transcribe Somali. Not only do we have some early English writings like this one, but there is an entire body of work which is Somali in Arabic script (something found across various Muslim societies in Africa, known as Ajami literature).

[Alpha Blondy]

Safferz;941345 wrote:

Alpha, colonial thinking is the assumption that Africans did not and cannot write or think for themselves, which is what makes recovering these old texts produced by Somalis all the more historically significant. It is true that Somali society is predominantly an oral one, but that's not to say that some people were not literate in other languages and wrote in those scripts, either in those languages themselves or to transcribe Somali. Not only do we have some early English writings like this one, but there is an entire body of work which is Somali in Arabic script (something found across various Muslim societies in Africa, known as Ajami literature).

 

i had NO idea. what are we waiting for, inaar? get on with it already, ma istidhi?

[Safferz]

What are you talking about, Alpha? lol

[Alpha Blondy]

Safferz;941354 wrote:

What are you talking about, Alpha? lol

please unearth and brush the century old dust..... off these undiscovered gems, which, are yet to be explored. lead us to salvation, saffz. :confused:

[Chimera]

Safferz;941345 wrote:

Alpha, colonial thinking is the assumption that Africans did not and cannot write or think for themselves, which is what makes recovering these old texts produced by Somalis all the more historically significant.

It is true that Somali society is predominantly an oral one

, but that's not to say that some people were not literate in other languages and wrote in those scripts, either in those languages themselves or to transcribe Somali. Not only do we have some early English writings like this one, but there is an entire body of work which is Somali in Arabic script (something found across various Muslim societies in Africa, known as Ajami literature).

The world was predominantly "oral" for much of history. The literacy rate in the Ottoman Empire for example was only 5%. Somalis had written books for centuries, there is even one that could be dubbed a steam-punk fantasy lol. (16th century Portuguese with steamships attacking Adal.)

[Safferz]

Chimera;941388 wrote:

The world was predominantly "oral" for much of history. The literacy rate in the Ottoman Empire for example was only 5%. Somalis had written books for centuries, there is even one that could be dubbed a steam-punk fantasy lol. (16th century Portuguese with steamships attacking Adal.)

Umm Chimera you think you can tell me about a Somali steam punk-like story and not give me a citation so I can go read it? lol

 

But yes, I agree with you on the point of literacy, but I think orality is more than simply the absence of writing. It's a worldview in many ways, a mode of thinking and communication. "High literature" in Somali culture is oral literature, whereas the literary production in societies with writing systems has always been textual and associated with cities and the upper classes (and oral forms like folk stories were seen as rural, lower class, etc art forms). Somali literature is almost a reverse of this, where we venerate the nomad and his oral verse. So it's not only a question of literacy but the forms of literary production societies emphasize and place value on.

[Chimera]

Safferz;941393 wrote:

Umm Chimera you think you can tell me about a Somali steam punk-like story and not give me a citation so I can go read it? lol

LOL, to be fair its more of a case where the writer has played with time and put Italian and Portuguese in the same time-line. The indirect source was: "New Arabic documents from Somalia".

 

But yes, I agree with you on the point of literacy, but I think orality is more than simply the absence of writing. It's a worldview in many ways, a mode of thinking and communication. "High literature" in Somali culture is oral literature, whereas the literary production in societies with writing systems has always been textual and associated with cities and the upper classes (and oral forms like folk stories were seen as rural, lower class, etc art forms). Somali literature is almost a reverse of this, where we venerate the nomad and his oral verse. So it's not only a question of literacy but the forms of literary production societies emphasize and place value on.

I don't think we can make such a judgement on historic Somali literature yet, even the likes of I.M Lewis have admitted that it was impossible for them to acquire access to private libraries. There is still much we don't know, and all the patterns of superiority and prejudice evident in other nations/ethnicities' literature might very well be present in old Somali literature, including looking down on nomadism.