Though literacy in Congo is still largely associated with the role of missionaries there, some local communities who had been in contact with Muslim traders in different parts of the country were using the Arabic script before the arrival of the first Europeans and continued to do so during the colonial period. This alphabet was used for writing texts in Arabic of course, but also in Swahili. The European presence challenged this literacy and rapidly replaced it with the use of the Latin alphabet, both for Swahili and other African languages. Nevertheless, during the first period of contact between Europeans, Arabs, and Africans, Arabic literacy was sometimes used to exchange letters or to sign treaties, and contracts. Several examples taken from different parts of the country illustrate how Europeans played a role, consciously or not, in maintaining Arabic literacy in the early stages of their presence in Congo.
Xavier Luffin teaches Arabic language and literature at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, Belgium). He has published several articles on the use of Arabic and Ajami Swahili in Congo, and a book entitled Un autre regard sur l’Histoire congolaise. Les documents arabes et swahilis dans les archives belges (1880-1899), Bruxelles, Fontes Historiae africanae, 2020 (395 p.).
Chair: Daniela Waldburger
Tuesday, 25th April 2023, 5:15 pm
Department of African Studies - Seminar room 1
University Campus, court 5.1., Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna
afrika@univie.ac.at, afrika.univie.ac.at
Zoom link: https://univienna.zoom.us/j/65988059038?pwd=em0xMzdiQWprZGsyR1hYdFVQRHdpZz09
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Meeting-ID: 659 8805 9038
Kenncode: 968042
