Vol. 33 No. 4 (2024): NJAS Special Issue: Becoming (Un)Equal in Age: Seniority and Superiority in African Societies
Special Issue: Becoming (Un)Equal in Age: Seniority and Superiority in African Societies

What is ‘Old’ in Old Age? An Inquiry into Swahili Paremia

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  • Ahmad Kipacha
Ahmad Kipacha
The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology
Bio
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53228/njas.v33i4.1157

Published 2024-12-19

Keywords

  • Swahili proverbs,
  • gerontology,
  • paremiology,
  • paremiography,
  • old age,
  • aging
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Kipacha, A. (2024). What is ‘Old’ in Old Age? An Inquiry into Swahili Paremia. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 33(4), 326–336. https://doi.org/10.53228/njas.v33i4.1157

Copyright (c) 2024 Ahmad Kipacha

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This article is about gerontological proverbs in Swahili folkloric discourses. The question posed in this study is as follows: how is old age depicted according to Swahili paremiology? To answer this question, 49 popular Swahili gerontological proverbs have been analysed. The findings show that Swahili gerontological proverbs, like other non-Western gerontological proverbs, pay due respect to elders who are considered wise, knowledgeable, and experienced. How someone is perceived to be an elder is largely socially and culturally constructed. There are several Swahili gerontological proverbs that are equivalent to proverbs in different cultures and languages including Russian, German, Yiddish, French, Chinese, Arabic, and others.

This research report has been reviewed by the editors of the special issue but has not been externally peer-reviewed.

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