Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts最新文献

Waka Music as a Commentary on Yoruba Society in Post-Colonial Nigeria: A Review of Two Female Musicians 瓦卡音乐作为对后殖民时期尼日利亚约鲁巴社会的评论——对两位女音乐家的评论

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.8

M. Oladejo

{"title":"Waka Music as a Commentary on Yoruba Society in Post-Colonial Nigeria: A Review of Two Female Musicians","authors":"M. Oladejo","doi":"10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.8","url":null,"abstract":"In pre-colonial and colonial Yoruba societies, music was an integral part of everyday life. Scholarly works have differentiated music genres among the Yoruba with attempts made to analyse their historical background. Even though the Yoruba music industry is a male-dominated industry with concentration on Fuji, Highlife and Juju music, the few female musicians in the industry have created a distinct genre known as Waka music. This article argues that the Waka music of the female musicians presents a perspective for understanding the feminisation of music and the challenges of development in Southwestern Nigerian cities from the immediate postcolonial era. Moreover, against the stereotype that women lack insights into social issues, this work displays that Waka music by female singers, Batuli Alake and Salawa Abeni, illustrate how an agency of communication and relevance is created. The career history of both women serves a basis for unravelling feminist struggles to eke out a livelihood in postcolonial Nigeria. The article adopted an historical approach in its analysis. It employed both primary and secondary sources such as online interview excerpts, newspapers, journals and books. The findings show that Waka music has strictly been a sphere of interest that women have sustained in the Yoruba music industry.","PeriodicalId":149261,"journal":{"name":"Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133977907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

‘We are like refuse in front of the guest of honour’ : Dancers’ Struggles and Tribulations in Tanzania “在贵宾面前，我们就像垃圾一样”:坦桑尼亚舞者的挣扎与磨难

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.7

D. Sanga

{"title":"‘We are like refuse in front of the guest of honour’ : Dancers’ Struggles and Tribulations in Tanzania","authors":"D. Sanga","doi":"10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.7","url":null,"abstract":"Informed by the theory of attitude and original data gathered with dancers in Dar es Salaam and Iringa, this article argues that dancers in Tanzania are dogged by lack of recognition, infrastructural, attitudinal and economic challenges. These problems arise primarily because dancing is largely an ad hoc and autonomous career that employs a considerable number of Tanzanians regardless of their socio-economic and education background. However, what dancers encounter in the career disappoint many of them particularly when they want to use it to earn a living as terpsichoreans. The article shows that failure of community members and the government to give the performing arts industry, particularly theatre and dancing, the attention it deserves frustrated many artistes including dancers. Thus, the article suggests that government-owned theatrical infrastructures be hired at affordable rates with more theatres to be built to ease the problem of limited venues for theatrical performances. Moreover, dealing with the problem of undervaluing dancers that, subsequently, impact on them economically and how they are perceived also requires a systematic documentation of the contributions of dancers and the theatre industry generally.","PeriodicalId":149261,"journal":{"name":"Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130959348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Familial Space and Children’s Social Identity in Elieshi Lema’s Parched Earth: A Love Story 埃利希·勒玛《干涸的地球:一个爱情故事》中的家庭空间与儿童的社会身份

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.6

Andreas Komba, Davis Nyanda

引用次数: 0

Mini Devils: Dynamics of Power in a Community of Laughter 迷你恶魔:笑声社区中的权力动态

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.2

John Wakota

{"title":"Mini Devils: Dynamics of Power in a Community of Laughter","authors":"John Wakota","doi":"10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.2","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the role of humour in Wilson Kaigalura’s novel, Mini Devils (2006) primarily because humour and laughter are among the most cherished traits of human being. Yet, what we laugh about, why, and how, are questions of serious concern. Using Susanne Reich and Mark Stein’s (2005) explication of the notion of communities of laughter, this article situates literary humour-laughter relationship within the stimuli-response framework and reads the characters as constituting a community of laughter that functions as an infrastructural site of sociability and socialisation. Drawing upon the theories of power, the article analyses the political and social aspects of humour that come in subtle ways, and yet serve major ways through which to access meanings that reveal, stabilise, or destabilise notions of power in society. This shift, from analysing humour and laughter as aesthetic devices to analysing them as deliberate political acts, can illuminate on our understanding of power dynamics and differentiation in society. The analysis shows that the characters’ performance of humour and its appreciation are goal-oriented and forms of power that are not always monopolised by particularised groups of people but can also be manipulated by all and sundry regardless of their social status in society.","PeriodicalId":149261,"journal":{"name":"Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130794698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 1

Crux of the Bongo Movie from a Digital Disruption Lens 从数字颠覆的角度看邦戈电影的关键

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.4

Issa Mbura

{"title":"Crux of the Bongo Movie from a Digital Disruption Lens","authors":"Issa Mbura","doi":"10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.4","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports the findings of a study that had explored digital disruption as an analytical lens developed based on the constructs of two theories: the digital disruption theory and the disruptive innovation theory. The study had employed unstructured in-depth interviews, direct observation and virtual ethnographic to consult media experts, pioneer filmmakers, Bongo Movie’ producers, movies library’s keepers, movie retailers, movie translators (deejays) and social network sites (SNS) to collect data. Based on the study findings, the paper argues that the shift in technological paradigm, specifically from the use of expensive and inaccessible technologies used in filmmaking engendered the development and sustainability of the Bongo Movie genre in Tanzania. This technological paradigm shifts were twofold. To begin with, there was a transition from the use of celluloid film and analogue video cameras to digital video cameras in film production. Second, there was a shift from the use of optical prints and Vertical Helican Scan (VHS) tapes to optical discs such as Digital Versatile Discs (DVD) in the distribution of films. These changes in the technologies used in production and distribution of films provided entrants into the local film industry with necessary tools to produce low-budget films and service the low-end market of the country, which augured well with the country’s resource-poor context. Moreover, these Bongo Movies “disrupted” the erstwhile traditional, established, and stringent patterns of consumption of both locally-produced and foreign-imported films in local film markets. Overall, the Bongo Movie genre evolution appears to be a model of how digitally-motivated disruptions can occur in a local film market in a developing nation’s video-film industries and become a staple particularly among the low-end clientele.","PeriodicalId":149261,"journal":{"name":"Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127891836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Songs and Language: Children’s Songs and the Learning of Kiswahili in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 歌曲与语言:坦桑尼亚达累斯萨拉姆儿童歌曲与斯瓦希里语学习

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.3

Kassomo Mkallyah

{"title":"Songs and Language: Children’s Songs and the Learning of Kiswahili in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania","authors":"Kassomo Mkallyah","doi":"10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.3","url":null,"abstract":"This paper focuses on the use of children’s songs in learning Kiswahili language in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. Usually, songs serve different purposes including transmission of knowledge, values, and language. It argues that children’s songs serve as a means for learning Kiswahili and indigenous culture. The study was conducted at Msewe, Kimara and Changanyikeni nursery schools located in Ubungo municipality of Dar es Salaam. The data was collected using interviews, observations, discussion, and documentation. In this empirical research, the study analysed the Kiswahili songs, lyrics and associated information collected with the children at these schools. With recourse to the participant and arousal theory, the study found that, apart from learning word sounds and singing, songs help children to learn pronunciation and application of words found in songs in their day-to-day communication. The tunes and rhythms of these songs support the children’s acquaintance with Kiswahili words. Furthermore, the songs’ lyrics enables children to construct Kiswahili sentences and structures, thereby enhances their learning of Kiswahili language.","PeriodicalId":149261,"journal":{"name":"Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126336545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The Mkwawa Portrait Conundrum: A Quest for Facial Similitude 姆克瓦瓦肖像之谜:对面部相似性的探索

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.1

Dominicus Makukula

{"title":"The Mkwawa Portrait Conundrum: A Quest for Facial Similitude","authors":"Dominicus Makukula","doi":"10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.1","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports the findings of an investigation that was carried out to determine the accuracy of the facial likeness of Paramount Chief Mkwawa to his representative portrait created in 1954, with the intent to complement the missing part of his face following the return of his skull from Germany where it had been kept for 56 years. Since its creation, the portrait sought to approximate the actual face of Mkwawa, which had been badly damaged from a gunshot wound and the ensuing maceration process by Tom von Prince before he shipped the skull to Bremen, Germany in July 1898. Since its return to the then Tanganyika, local and foreign researchers have engaged in endless debate on its authenticity while ignoring discussions on Mkwawa’s facial appearance in most of their publications on the topic. Employing the Imitation Theory of Art, this paper extends the inquiry on the legitimacy of Mkwawa’s skull to his portrait, created to complement the missing flesh on the skull. Data for the study had been collected using critical interviews and document review. Meanwhile, analysis entailed a comparative examination of the facial features on the original photograph of Mkwawa’s head against photographs of his lineal descendants. Besides, a review was carried out of the artist’s skills of portraiture and knowledge of principles of art, as well as narratives of the respondents on the portrait creation process. Findings show that the portrait depicted a striking facial resemblance to Mkwawa’s descendants involved in his portrait creation process except for the spiritual aura and the imagined facial expression of the paramount Chief himself.","PeriodicalId":149261,"journal":{"name":"Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127996312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Symbolism and Death: Class-based Ritualised Performance in the Basukuma Burial Ceremonies 象征与死亡:巴祖玛人丧葬仪式中基于阶级的仪式化表演

Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts Pub Date : 2022-01-31 DOI: 10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.5

Emmanuel Kilatu

{"title":"Symbolism and Death: Class-based Ritualised Performance in the Basukuma Burial Ceremonies","authors":"Emmanuel Kilatu","doi":"10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56279/ummaj.v9i2.5","url":null,"abstract":"Guided by a Marxist perspective on literature, and Muleka’s Performer-centrism, this paper highlights and discusses different manifestations or gestures that covertly suggest that there are elements of classes in some of the burial ceremonies, which are accompanied by performances among the Basukuma ethnic group of Tanzania. It reports the findings of a study whose data were collected using interviews held with respondents selected via snowball sampling. Note-taking served as a prominent data collection tool. Documentary review supplemented interviews, especially to collect data on the traditions of the Basukuma as one of the ethnic groups in Tanzania found predominantly in the Lake Victoria Zone. The study found that the burial ceremonies of the Basukuma are class conscious as manifested by their symbolic, incantatory, and invocatory performances. Indeed, when chiefs, singers, breech-birth and twins die, their burials require special burial ritual performances such as incantations, invocations and symbols that differentiate them from other rank and file individuals whose burial ceremonies lack fanfares characterising privileged individuals. Overall, these burial ceremonies graced by symbolic gestures among the Basukuma also help to unify the community since individuals define themselves in terms of who they are and what to expect from them and the community as a whole.","PeriodicalId":149261,"journal":{"name":"Umma: The Journal of Contemporary Literature and Creative Arts","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123956027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0