Nordic Journal of African Studies

Introduction: Time and Imagined Futures in Eastern African Art Forms

Alex Perullo — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Artists in eastern Africa use songs, poems, fiction, cartoons, and other artistic forms to explore their lived experiences and future possibilities. Through their art they can envision alternatives to their current experiences, contest social and political problems, and reveal the dangers of complacency. They can also grapple with regret at missed opportunities or develop a sense of longing for a future that could or should have been had different decisions been made. Through these processes of envisioning and challenging future trajectories, artists illuminate diverse human attitudes toward time, encompassing hopes, aspirations, fears, anger, resentment, and nostalgia. Recognizing the role that artists have in empathizing with and validating the experiences of others, this article provides a framework for comprehending artistic orientations to time that are often fluid, contested, and uneven. It reveals that individuals, including both creators and consumers of art, orient themselves toward different future possibilities as they negotiate their present circumstances and daily struggles. Thus, art serves as a medium through which individuals explore, challenge, critique, and imagine future possibilities, as well as deal with regret at unexplored past opportunities.

This article introduces the NJAS special issue "Art and Imagined Futures in Eastern Africa", edited by Alex Perullo, Claudia Böhme, and Christina Woolner, and has not been peer-reviewed.

Poetry’s Political Future(s): Deliberating Democracy and Justice in Somaliland

Christina J. Woolner — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

In February 2017, a poem titled “Muddici” (‘Plaintiff’) by Hargeysa-based poet Weedhsame went viral on social media. The poem accused members of Somaliland’s government of corruption and quickly elicited a series of supporting and opposing responses. Together, these poems formed a debate “chain” (silsilad) that became known as Miimley (‘in ‘m’’). Beginning from the premise that forms of popular art both reflect and inform processes of sociopolitical change, this paper explores the poetic and political “future(s)” charted by the content and form of Miimley. Placing Miimley in the longue durée of Somali poetic debate , I specifically consider how the future is implicitly and explicitly evoked in the content of poets’ verse, and how the participatory dynamics of the unfolding of Miimley index and foment emergent forms of democratic engagement. I ultimately suggest that the futures invoked in Miimley balance respect for “tradition” – especially Islam and poetry – with a desire for more just and inclusive politics.

Marco Tibasima’s Cartoon Representations of the Education Crisis in Tanzania

Deo S. Ngonyani — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

This paper examines the cartoons of Marco Tibasima, which portray the education system of Tanzania as dysfunctional and heading towards a bleak future. Through cartoons published in Habari Leo, NGO booklets, and on his blog, Tibasima provides a diagnosis of the ailing education system in Tanzania. Drawing on conceptual metaphor theory, this study identifies different elements of metaphors and metonymy in his cartoons. The cartoons included depict crowded and dilapidated classrooms, inadequate resources, an obsession with exams, the abuse of students, and demoralized and overworked teachers. Since education prepares people for the future, the paper argues that concern for the quality of education is essentially a concern for the future. The commentary implicitly invites the reader to imagine the consequences of the current state of Tanzanian education. Although the critical cartoons do not present programmatic proposals, they are very forward-looking and include an early warning.

Memories of Failed Futures: The Autobiography of Nicco ye Mbajo (1950–2021), a Popular Artist in Tanzania

Uta Reuster-Jahn — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

The autobiography of Nicco ye Mbajo (1950–2021) provides insight into the life of an artist and his experiences as a cultural producer in Tanzania from independence to recent times. Belonging to the first generation of modern cultural producers, Mbajo contributed significantly to popular culture in Tanzania as a writer, magazine editor, illustrator, cartoonist, and choirmaster. In his autobiography, published in 2020, he reflects on his artistic career, which, as the title Laiti Ningelijua (‘If Only I Had Known’) signals, ultimately fell short of the potential he thought possible. The text offers Mbajo’s subjective view of the various, often contradictory cultural currents and social struggles related to the political project of decolonization, socialism, and “national culture” in post-independence Tanzania. Through reading Mbajo’s autobiography and relating it to his other works, as well as drawing on interviews with the author, this article explores how he imagined his future as an artist in a society where there was neither a pre-established nor a legitimate place for independent artists. The informal production modes of popular culture in Tanzania allowed Mbajo to use diverse approaches and experimentation, while political restraints, financial hardships, lack of training opportunities, and breaches of trust inhibited his artistic progress and economic success. With his autobiography, the author leaves a legacy for future generations of artists in Tanzania to learn from and a rich source for the country’s cultural history.

Epilogue: The Power of Arts for Future Making in East Africa: From Kakuma Refugee Camp and Beyond

Claudia Böhme — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300

Through the example of migrants staying at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in north-western Kenya, I show what art consumption and production means for people living in marginalised and restricted places in East Africa. With its 30 years of existence Kakuma refugee camp has developed into a major city-camp and its residents are very active consumers and producers of art. In this context, as shown in this special issue, art has an important function of identity creation, connection to wider East African communities, to home and future places to stay as well as for the imagination, planning and making of alternative futures.

This epilogue concludes the NJAS special issue "Art and Imagined Futures in Eastern Africa", edited by Alex Perullo, Claudia Böhme, and Christina Woolner, and has not been peer-reviewed.