Samantha Greene
Reynolds
Writing 1
11/24/14
“Simba and Nala go Islam”: The development and transformation of peoples on the Swahili Coast Swahili culture sprouts from intermarriage as well as trade. The Local Bantu Africans traded with Arabs, Persians, Indians, and eventually Western Europeans such as the Portuguese and British. Due to the diversity of cultures that traded with the Swahili peoples, intermarriage between these cultures and gender roles that developed from these marriages, it is clear that it was the Local Bantus who developed a unique culture and language, known as Swahili, and not the Arabs. The Arabs have, however, played a major role in Swahili Culture today, and this is why the Swahili Coast proves unique as a region with…show more content… The theory that observes the Swahili language as a mixture of Arabic and Bantu languages focus on this notion. Those who support this theory believe that some of original Swahili speaking people must be of an Arabic father and a Bantu mother, and that the Swahili people are a mixture of Arabic and Bantu culture. History suggests that by the 1400’s the cities on what is now the Swahili Coast “were run [in city states] by a nobility that was African and Arabic in origin. These city-states began to decline in the sixteenth century” (Hooker). While the Arab-African reign lasted about two-hundred years, this would not be enough time for an entire language to develop. The Arab influence on Swahili culture resides largely through religion (Islam), but only slightly through language. There are few vocabulary overlaps between the original Bantu language and Arabic, but no grammatical similarities. Vocabulary overlaps are found in thousands of languages without the primary language giving credit to the overlapping languages. This is cause enough to assert that Swahili is in fact not a mixture of Arabic and…show more content… The traditional attire of a Swahili man is a long white or beige robe known in Swahili as a kanzu and a small, white-rounded hat with elaborate embroidery. Swahili women dress in long black dresses called buibui and cover their heads with a black cloth, known as a hijab. It is also common to find Swahili women wearing a veil to cover their faces. Outside their traditional clothing, most Swahili men wear western-style pants and shirts, but revert to the traditional attire on Fridays, the official prayer day for Muslims of all cultures, and during other important or religious occasions. The dress in Swahili culture compliments the modesty of traditional Arab clothing, yet the clothing is still considered uniquely
