Ethnicity, Identity, and Conceptualizing Community in Indian Ocean East Africa

This book explores how littoral East Africans imagined and reimagined their communities over two millennia of engagement with Indian Ocean transformations, emphasizing the circulation of people and ideas. It expands the focus on Swahili people to speakers of Sabaki Bantu languages, Mijikenda, Pokomo, and Elwana communities, outlining their innovation and transformation of lineages, clans, confederations, councils, title societies, age sets, moieties, religious sects, and tribes.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 04 January 2024
Publisher: Ohio University Press

This comprehensive volume delves into the rich tapestry of how the people of littoral East Africa have envisioned and reimagined their communities throughout a remarkable two millennia of engagement with the transformative forces of the Indian Ocean. Spanning from the early settlement of Bantu speakers near the coast in the first century CE to their active participation in transoceanic commerce, imperial rivalries, colonial projects, and decolonization movements in the mid-twentieth century, this study offers a profound exploration of the region's historical trajectory.

Like other narratives of the Indian Ocean, this volume emphasizes the intricate circulation of people and ideas, showcasing how these littoral communities have seamlessly integrated strategies from both the interior of Africa and those who traversed the vast ocean. Moreover, it sheds light on the intricate relationship between ethnicity and other forms of identity by broadening the traditional focus on the Swahili people to include speakers of Sabaki Bantu languages, as well as the Mijikenda, Pokomo, and Elwana communities, which often receive less attention in Indian Ocean scholarship.

By examining the shared linguistic heritage of these diverse groups, the book intricately outlines their ancestors' innovative and transformative processes of lineage, clan, confederation, council, title society, age set, moiety, religious sect, and tribe formation. Drawing upon a wealth of evidence from linguistics, archaeology, ethnography, oral traditions, traveler accounts, and colonial records, this work unravels the dynamic ways in which the speakers of Sabaki languages continuously reinterpreted their identities in the ever-changing political landscape of the Indian Ocean world.

This deep history of collaboration and political imagination takes readers on a captivating journey, traversing multiple precolonial and colonial eras, and extending beyond. It provides a comprehensive synthesis of the region's historical developments, offering valuable insights into the transitions of identity that held profound significance for littoral East Africans. By filling the need for an updated and comprehensive account of this rich and complex history, this book serves as a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts alike.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780821426135