Clarissa Vierke
Biographic Data
| ID | 179065 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Clarissa Vierke |
| GIVEN NAMES | Clarissa |
| FAMILY NAME | Vierke |
| SIGNATURE | VIERKE C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bayreuth |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4167-7451 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1913 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Of Worlds and Artworks: A Relational View on Artistic Practices from Africa and the Diaspora
The present volume brings together contributions which explore artworks – including literature, visual arts, film and performances – as dynamic sites of worlding. It puts emphasis on the processes of creating or doing worlds, implying movement as opposed to the boundary drawing of area studies. From such a processual perspective, Africa is not a delineated area, but emerges in a variety of relations which can reach across the continent, but also …
What is the Place of Local Swahili Poetry in the Grand Indian Ocean? Reading Ustadh Mahmoud Mau’s Poetry from Lamu from a Perspective of Dynamic Relations
Zanzibari Worlds: A Relational Reading of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea and Adam Shafi Adam’s Vuta n’kuvute
My aim is to bring two novels into conversation, each one by a renowned author from Zanzibar: Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea (published in 2001) and Shafi Adam Shafi’s Vuta n’kuvute (“Tug of War,” published in 1999), which offer literary imaginings of Zanzibari worlds in the turbulent 1960s. The two novels—written in English and Swahili, respectively—have never been brought into relation with each other, since they belong to two different literar…
Decolonial Aesthetics II: Modes of Relating
“The Sea Cannot Be Spoken”. Thinking About Aesthetic Relations, the Poetics of Language(s) and Place Through Yvonne Owuor’s the Dragonfly Sea
Decolonial Aesthetics II: Modes of Relating
Of Patience and Pity: Rewriting and Reciting the Widely Travelled Islamic Poem “The Hawk and the Dove” in East Africa
The Swahili poem of “The Hawk and the Dove” ( Kozi na Ndiwa ) has long been popular along the Swahili coast. In brief, the poem tells the story of the prophet Musa, who is put to the test by the angels Mikaili and Jibrili, disguised as a dove and a hawk. The dove, fleeing the famished hawk, finds refuge in the folds of Musa’s clothes. The bird of prey, approaching Musa, claims its right to the dove, since it is hungry. Musa faces a dilemma: he un…
Swahili language and literature as resources for Indian Ocean studies
In this contribution, our common point of convergence as an anthropologist and a literary scholar is to see Swahili language, literature and other texts as interwoven with the depth, scope, and complex dynamics of human experience and social life on the East Africa coast, with its long history of Islam. This includes prominently a view as to how this relates or is integral to the larger Indian Ocean world. Swahili language and its genres have bee…
Boarding a Full Bus: Refracted Connections between the Political and the Poetic in Swahili Popular Poetry from Dar es Salaam
This paper interrogates the notion of intervention in popular poetry. It takes the example of popular poetry from Dar es Salaam, which has so far not received much scholarly attention, since it can neither be classified as traditional nor avantgarde. The urban poets struggle to make ends meet, but regularly publish their poetry in the newspaper or through social media and organize themselves in networks. They often remain without a voice in their…
Intervention, Patronage and Performance: A Foreword
The question of the arts' potential to intervene is a topical one. Art seems to be ubiquitous in forms of recent political protest and interventions morph into artistic practices-so that the boundary between art and political engagement becomes porous. The face of Khalid Said tortured to death by the Egyptian police appeared as graffiti on walls all over Alexandria and Cairo as well as facebook pages in 2010 and 2011 spurring huge mass protests a…
Other Worlds: The “Prophet’s Ascension” as World Literature and its Adaptation in Swahili-speaking East Africa
World literature as a study beyond paradigms of national literature is a seemingly open project inviting to study any transnational or transcontinental circulation of texts. So far, however, in many studies, circulation has largely been measured by a text’s contribution to the Western literary reservoir. In this contribution, my aim is to broaden the view on world literature by leaving the West as point of temporal, spatial or intertextual refere…
Poetic Links across the Ocean
So far, the diffusion of texts in non-European languages, which have been essential in creating transoceanic links for centuries, have hardly been adequately considered in studies on the Indian Ocean. This article focuses on the appropriation of Arabic historiographic text into the precolonial Swahili poetic genre of the utendi. In contrast to previous analyses that have highlighted the appropriation of text to fit local discourses of identity, V…
What Is There In My Speaking”: Re-Explorations of Language in Abdilatif Abdalla's Anthology of Prison Poetry, Sauti Ya Dhiki
This paper undertakes an aesthetic reading of Abdilatif Abdalla’s anthology of his prison poetry, Sauti ya Dhiki [Voice of Agony]. While his poetry has been repeatedly analyzed as a form of critical discourse, its poetic angle has so far been rather neglected. Instead of presenting a catalogue of stylistic features, this article aims to show that in his poetry “meaning” emerges not beyond but out of poetic form. Concentrating on the centrality of…
Introduction: Digging into Language
Introduction: Digging into Language Flora Veit-Wild and Clarissa Vierke The original impetus for this special issue arose out of the research project “Changing Patterns of the Shona Novel from Zimbabwe: A Linguistic Literary Analysis” directed by Flora Veit-Wild at Humboldt University in Berlin. Starting from the premise that one of the glaring gaps in contemporary African studies is the fact that linguistic and literary scholarship have largely …
From across the ocean: Considering travelling literary figurations as part of Swahili intellectual history
A history of knowledge production and transmission necessarily needs to take into account the cultural patterns of dissemination of ideas. While Swahili poetry has been recognized as an important domain of scholarly discourse on the East African coast, there has been little reflection on how ideas are shaped by poetic form and imagery. How do poetic figures interfere with thought? How can poetic imagery be considered to contribute to a Swahili in…
Comparing the Incomparable? On the Poetic Use of Language in Swahili Hip-Hop and ‘Classical’ Swahili Poetry
Akhi patia kalamu: Writing Swahili Poetry in Arabic Script
This chapter is twofold: firstly, it gives a brief historical overview of Swahili in Arabic script. Secondly, the chapter explores an aspect of Swahili in Arabic script that has hardly ever been considered, namely the question of how poetic language shapes its presentation in script and how script shapes poetic language. It shows that Swahili notions of poetry and its representation in Arabic script are often strongly intertwined. The chapter con…
La poésie mystique peule du Mali . Tradition Orale. By Christiane Seydou. Paris: Karthala, 2008. Pp. 450. €32.
Musical Criticism in Paris
Poetic Links across the Ocean
So far, the diffusion of texts in non-European languages, which have been essential in creating transoceanic links for centuries, have hardly been adequately considered in studies on the Indian Ocean. This article focuses on the appropriation of Arabic historiographic text into the precolonial Swahili poetic genre of the utendi. In contrast to previous analyses that have highlighted the appropriation of text to fit local discourses of identity, V…
From across the ocean: Considering travelling literary figurations as part of Swahili intellectual history
A history of knowledge production and transmission necessarily needs to take into account the cultural patterns of dissemination of ideas. While Swahili poetry has been recognized as an important domain of scholarly discourse on the East African coast, there has been little reflection on how ideas are shaped by poetic form and imagery. How do poetic figures interfere with thought? How can poetic imagery be considered to contribute to a Swahili in…
What Is There In My Speaking”: Re-Explorations of Language in Abdilatif Abdalla's Anthology of Prison Poetry, Sauti Ya Dhiki
This paper undertakes an aesthetic reading of Abdilatif Abdalla’s anthology of his prison poetry, Sauti ya Dhiki [Voice of Agony]. While his poetry has been repeatedly analyzed as a form of critical discourse, its poetic angle has so far been rather neglected. Instead of presenting a catalogue of stylistic features, this article aims to show that in his poetry “meaning” emerges not beyond but out of poetic form. Concentrating on the centrality of…
Swahili language and literature as resources for Indian Ocean studies
In this contribution, our common point of convergence as an anthropologist and a literary scholar is to see Swahili language, literature and other texts as interwoven with the depth, scope, and complex dynamics of human experience and social life on the East Africa coast, with its long history of Islam. This includes prominently a view as to how this relates or is integral to the larger Indian Ocean world. Swahili language and its genres have bee…
Musical Criticism in Paris
La poésie mystique peule du Mali . Tradition Orale. By Christiane Seydou. Paris: Karthala, 2008. Pp. 450. €32.
Akhi patia kalamu: Writing Swahili Poetry in Arabic Script
This chapter is twofold: firstly, it gives a brief historical overview of Swahili in Arabic script. Secondly, the chapter explores an aspect of Swahili in Arabic script that has hardly ever been considered, namely the question of how poetic language shapes its presentation in script and how script shapes poetic language. It shows that Swahili notions of poetry and its representation in Arabic script are often strongly intertwined. The chapter con…
Comparing the Incomparable? On the Poetic Use of Language in Swahili Hip-Hop and ‘Classical’ Swahili Poetry
From across the ocean: Considering travelling literary figurations as part of Swahili intellectual history
A history of knowledge production and transmission necessarily needs to take into account the cultural patterns of dissemination of ideas. While Swahili poetry has been recognized as an important domain of scholarly discourse on the East African coast, there has been little reflection on how ideas are shaped by poetic form and imagery. How do poetic figures interfere with thought? How can poetic imagery be considered to contribute to a Swahili in…
Poetic Links across the Ocean
So far, the diffusion of texts in non-European languages, which have been essential in creating transoceanic links for centuries, have hardly been adequately considered in studies on the Indian Ocean. This article focuses on the appropriation of Arabic historiographic text into the precolonial Swahili poetic genre of the utendi. In contrast to previous analyses that have highlighted the appropriation of text to fit local discourses of identity, V…
What Is There In My Speaking”: Re-Explorations of Language in Abdilatif Abdalla's Anthology of Prison Poetry, Sauti Ya Dhiki
This paper undertakes an aesthetic reading of Abdilatif Abdalla’s anthology of his prison poetry, Sauti ya Dhiki [Voice of Agony]. While his poetry has been repeatedly analyzed as a form of critical discourse, its poetic angle has so far been rather neglected. Instead of presenting a catalogue of stylistic features, this article aims to show that in his poetry “meaning” emerges not beyond but out of poetic form. Concentrating on the centrality of…
Introduction: Digging into Language
Introduction: Digging into Language Flora Veit-Wild and Clarissa Vierke The original impetus for this special issue arose out of the research project “Changing Patterns of the Shona Novel from Zimbabwe: A Linguistic Literary Analysis” directed by Flora Veit-Wild at Humboldt University in Berlin. Starting from the premise that one of the glaring gaps in contemporary African studies is the fact that linguistic and literary scholarship have largely …
Other Worlds: The “Prophet’s Ascension” as World Literature and its Adaptation in Swahili-speaking East Africa
World literature as a study beyond paradigms of national literature is a seemingly open project inviting to study any transnational or transcontinental circulation of texts. So far, however, in many studies, circulation has largely been measured by a text’s contribution to the Western literary reservoir. In this contribution, my aim is to broaden the view on world literature by leaving the West as point of temporal, spatial or intertextual refere…
Boarding a Full Bus: Refracted Connections between the Political and the Poetic in Swahili Popular Poetry from Dar es Salaam
This paper interrogates the notion of intervention in popular poetry. It takes the example of popular poetry from Dar es Salaam, which has so far not received much scholarly attention, since it can neither be classified as traditional nor avantgarde. The urban poets struggle to make ends meet, but regularly publish their poetry in the newspaper or through social media and organize themselves in networks. They often remain without a voice in their…
Intervention, Patronage and Performance: A Foreword
The question of the arts' potential to intervene is a topical one. Art seems to be ubiquitous in forms of recent political protest and interventions morph into artistic practices-so that the boundary between art and political engagement becomes porous. The face of Khalid Said tortured to death by the Egyptian police appeared as graffiti on walls all over Alexandria and Cairo as well as facebook pages in 2010 and 2011 spurring huge mass protests a…
Of Patience and Pity: Rewriting and Reciting the Widely Travelled Islamic Poem “The Hawk and the Dove” in East Africa
The Swahili poem of “The Hawk and the Dove” ( Kozi na Ndiwa ) has long been popular along the Swahili coast. In brief, the poem tells the story of the prophet Musa, who is put to the test by the angels Mikaili and Jibrili, disguised as a dove and a hawk. The dove, fleeing the famished hawk, finds refuge in the folds of Musa’s clothes. The bird of prey, approaching Musa, claims its right to the dove, since it is hungry. Musa faces a dilemma: he un…
Swahili language and literature as resources for Indian Ocean studies
In this contribution, our common point of convergence as an anthropologist and a literary scholar is to see Swahili language, literature and other texts as interwoven with the depth, scope, and complex dynamics of human experience and social life on the East Africa coast, with its long history of Islam. This includes prominently a view as to how this relates or is integral to the larger Indian Ocean world. Swahili language and its genres have bee…
Decolonial Aesthetics II: Modes of Relating
“The Sea Cannot Be Spoken”. Thinking About Aesthetic Relations, the Poetics of Language(s) and Place Through Yvonne Owuor’s the Dragonfly Sea
Decolonial Aesthetics II: Modes of Relating
Of Worlds and Artworks: A Relational View on Artistic Practices from Africa and the Diaspora
The present volume brings together contributions which explore artworks – including literature, visual arts, film and performances – as dynamic sites of worlding. It puts emphasis on the processes of creating or doing worlds, implying movement as opposed to the boundary drawing of area studies. From such a processual perspective, Africa is not a delineated area, but emerges in a variety of relations which can reach across the continent, but also …
What is the Place of Local Swahili Poetry in the Grand Indian Ocean? Reading Ustadh Mahmoud Mau’s Poetry from Lamu from a Perspective of Dynamic Relations
Zanzibari Worlds: A Relational Reading of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea and Adam Shafi Adam’s Vuta n’kuvute
My aim is to bring two novels into conversation, each one by a renowned author from Zanzibar: Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea (published in 2001) and Shafi Adam Shafi’s Vuta n’kuvute (“Tug of War,” published in 1999), which offer literary imaginings of Zanzibari worlds in the turbulent 1960s. The two novels—written in English and Swahili, respectively—have never been brought into relation with each other, since they belong to two different literar…
Art (16 works) · Literature (13 works) · History (12 works) · Linguistics (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Poetry (11 works) · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories (10 works) · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies (10 works) · Swahili (8 works) · African history and culture studies (7 works)