The global worlds of the Swahili

This multidisciplinary volume challenges established ideas about "the world of the Swahili," proposing a perspective that highlights the transitory, shifting, and plural character of East African coastal societies, worldviews, and identities. The contributors give inside accounts of the broad spectrum of local perceptions of the world in the wider Swahili context. They demonstrate how these perceptions have been shaped by the interconnections of the East African coast with other geographical spaces and cultural spheres (especially Arabia, the Indian Ocean, and Europe). Offering new insights into the interaction of local culture, Islam, colonialism, the postcolony, and globalization, the volume shows that the "Swahili" belong to many worlds and continue to cultivate the interfaces between these worlds. The book is the outcome of several years of collaborative research, academic meetings, and individual paper presentations coordinated by the editors under the umbrella of the Collaborative Research Project "Local Agency in Africa in the Context of Global Influences" based at Bayreuth University (Germany) and funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).