Understanding Somalia through the Prism of Bantu Jareer Literature moreIn Ali J. Ahmed and Taddesse Adera, eds., The Road Less Traveled:
This essay intends to touch briefly on the comparative cultures between Somalia and some of the communities in the neighboring countries. Second, the essay discusses the culture and literature of the Bantu Jareer, and their "thought and knowledge," which Sorokin calls "the very essence of civilization." To embark on this journey, we must unlearn much of what has been said of the Jareer, in particular, and of Somali culture in general. This is important if we are to discover what constitutes the aesthetics of Jareer history, literary art, social culture and thought. This act of unlearning what is committed to the official collective memory of the Somali demythologizes what I call "monoculturality of the camel complex" so pervasive in discussions of Somali culture. It is an act also that will help us uncover the Jarrer's "...tool of self-definition in relation to others."-Wa Thiong'o.
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Social Exclusion, Racial and Ethnic Politics, Ethnic and Racial Studies, East Africa, African Diaspora Studies, African Studies, Research From Somalia, CONFLICT IN SOMALIA, Kenyan Somalis and the State, Somali studies, Somalia Civil War, Somali Muslim Women, Somaliland, Somali Diaspora, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Sudan, Somalia, Comparative Literature, World Literatures, Literary Criticism, Culture Studies, Cultural Studies, Marginalized Populations, Marginalized Identities, Ethnic Studies, Social Identity, Identity (Culture), Race and Ethnicity, Identity politics, African Literature, and Postcolonial Literature of Africa