Tajallīyāt al-Athar al-ʻUmānī fī al-Adab al-Sawāḥilī: Muqāranah Adabīyah Thaqāfīyah - Ghāfirīyah, Maryam bint Ḥumayd ibn Ṣaqr; Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur (2026) (Mumbāsā) (Mumbāsā : Jamʻīyat al-Istiqāmah al-Khayrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-ʻĀlamīyah, 2026)
This paper treats the effect of the Omani presence on Swahili literature as one of the most important manifestations of civilizational and cultural interaction between Oman and the coasts of East Africa, concentrating on the reflection of that presence in the linguistic, thematic and symbolic structure of the Swahili literary text. The study proceeds from a central problem: how did the historical and cultural Omani presence contribute to shaping the features of Swahili literature, and what are the limits of that influence in respect of language, theme and literary identity? The study acquires its importance from its contribution to bringing out the literary dimension of Omani influence on the Swahili coast — an aspect that has not received sufficient attention by comparison with historical and linguistic studies — and from the light it sheds on Swahili literature as the product of cultural interaction rather than a mere reflection of one-sided influence, which strengthens a fuller understanding of the relationship.
Permanent citation identifier: MHF-MOMBASA2026-012.
Conference theme (in Arabic): المحور الثالث: الأثر العربي في السواحلية.
Text in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
Keywords: Swahili literature; Omani influence; Comparative literature; Cultural interaction; Literary identity; East Africa