From the Tana River to Lake Chad – Research in African Oratures and Literatures

ISBN 978-3-89645-836-0
Obituary for Thomas Geider (1953–2010)

From the Tana River to Lake Chad – Research in African Oratures and Literatures

In memoriam Thomas Geider

Edited by: Hannelore Vögele, Uta Reuster-Jahn, Raimund Kastenholz, Lutz Diegner. With contributions by: A. Tahir Abba, Ursula Baumgardt, Rose Marie Beck, Ulrich Braukämper †, Nadia Cohen, Norbert Cyffer, Lutz Diegner, Marion Feuerstein-Tubach, Getie Gelaye, Werner Graebner, Hassan Adam, Said M.A. Khamis, Manuela Kirberg, Matthias Krings, Rudolf Leger, Omar Babu Marjan †, Ulrich Marzolph, Maarten Mous, Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig †, Uta Reuster-Jahn, Ridder Samsom, Erhard Schüttpelz, Bosoma Sheriff, Farouk Topan, Clarissa Vierke, Raimund Vogels, Hannelore Vögele, Kyallo Wamitila, Wakil A. Wasaram, H. Ekkehard Wolff. Series edited by: Thomas Bierschenk, Anna-Maria Brandstetter, Raimund Kastenholz, Matthias Krings, Carola Lentz.

Series: MBA Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung Volume 36

2014
427 pp.
18 colour photos, 2 colour illustrations, 1 comic, 7 b/w photos, 1 b/w illustration
Text language(s): English, German, Swahili, French
Format: 170 x 240 mm
1010 g
Paperback
€ 69.80

This collection of essays is published in memoriam Thomas Geider (* 25 April 1953, † 15 October 2010). Since the beginning of his studies and research, he was fascinated by African oral literature. As a scholar, he participated in the discussion of the concept of Weltliteratur, and was particularly interested in the question of how oral narratives could be integrated into the discussion of world literature. Research on the oral literature of the Pokomo in Eastern Kenya, and, subsequently, of the Kanuri in Northern Nigeria formed the basis of his scientific publications.
The contributions to this volume reflect the breadth of Thomas Geider’s research interests in African Narrative Research, Documentary Literature, and Weltliteratur; West African Oratures, Literatures, and Music; East African Oratures, Literatures, and Music. The essays and a number of literary contributions by Thomas Geider’s colleagues and friends are complemented by a series of photographs he took in the Tana River area, Kenya, as well as a bibliography of his publications.

CONTENTS

Preface

In memoriam

H. Ekkehard Wolff: In memoriam

Ulrich Braukämper: Thomas Geider (1953–2010)

Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig: Thomas Geider (1953–2010)

Uta Reuster-Jahn: In memoriam Thomas Geider 29.4.1953 – 15.10.2010

Bosoma Sheriff: KASA Announces Geider’s Death

African Narrative Research, Documentary Literature and Weltliteratur

Manuela Kirberg: Narrare necesse est – Der Mensch als homo narrans und die Signifikanz des Erzählens

H. Ekkehard Wolff: Und sie reimen doch – Parallelismus in afrikanischen Oraturen

Uta Reuster-Jahn: Strategies of Persuasion and Manipulation in Animal Trickster Tales

Matthias Krings: Kinoerzählen in Afrika – Skizze eines Forschungsfeldes

Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig: Documentary Literature in African Languages

Ulrich Marzolph: The Grimmification of Narrative Tradition

Erhard Schüttpelz: Drei Schritte zur Weltliteratur

West African Oratures, Literatures and Music

A. Tahir Abba: Praise Song – Thomas Geider (Kanuri/English)

Raimund Vogels / Bosoma Sheriff / Wakil A. Wasaram: Interpretations of Kungulu, a Court Music of the Shehu of Borno

Norbert Cyffer: The Representative of the King of England in Borno

Marion Feuerstein-Tubach: Die Rezeption von Tausendundeiner Nacht in der Hausa-Literatur

Rudolf Leger: “I want to be my own Cow” – Fulani Names and Superstitions about their Cows

Ursula Baumgardt: Création et répertoire en littérature orale

Nadia Cohen: Bamanankan-Literatur – Eine kleine Geschichte des Veröffentlichens und Verlegens in Mali

East African Oratures, Literatures and Music

Hassan Adam / Omar Babu Marjan†: Shairi / Poem ‘Thomas Geider’ (Kiswahili/English)

Said Ahmed Mohamed: Shairi / Poem: Kaburi! / Grave! (translated by the author)

Kyallo Wamitila / Omar Babu Marjan†: Shairi / Poem ‘Nakukumbuka … Thomas Geider’ (Kiswahili/English)

Farouk Topan: Hadithi Fupi / Short Story: Sitaki kwenda chuoni! / The Reluctant Scholar (rendition by the author)

Ridder Samsom: Swahili Manuscripts – Looking in East African Collections for Swahili Manuscripts in Arabic Script

Clarissa Vierke: „Im Gebälk die Fledermäuse“ – Figurationen der Vergänglichkeit und der Täuschung in der klassischen Swahili-Dichtung

Werner Graebner: The Qanbus Connection – Pre-Taarab Roots on the Northern Kenya Coast

Said A.M. Khamis: Linguistic Knowledge and the Creative Writer

Lutz Diegner: The Kenyan Challenge (?) – Dis/Continuities in Swahili Novel Writing 50 Years after Independence

Rose Marie Beck / Maarten Mous: Iraqw slufay and the power of voice

Getie Gelaye: Local Names and Technical Terms for Amharic Poetic Genres in Ethiopia

Photo Series

Hannelore Vögele: Der Palmweinzapfer – Photoserie i-4 von Thomas Geider (compiled and edited by Hannelore Vögele)

Thomas Geider’s List of Publications

Notes on Contributors


About the editors:
Hannelore Vögele taught Hausa and Nigerian literature at the University of Cologne and the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Uta Reuster-Jahn was Lecturer in Swahili at the Asien-Afrika-Institut, University of Hamburg.
Raimund Kastenholz is a retired Professor of African Philology at the Department of Anthro­pology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Lutz Diegner is Lecturer in Swahili Language and Literature at the Department of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin.

 

Under this link you will find further festschrifts and obituary editions for renowned scholars published in our programme.

Following these links you will find analyses and text books on African orature written and (co)edited by Thomas Geider.


Accompanying material:

Cross-reference:

Reviews

Le rôle capital qu’a joué Thomas Geider dans la recherche et l’enseignement africanistes en Allemagne – sans jamais occuper pourtant une position stable dans une université allemande – est explicité par les quatre nécrologies qui ouvrent le volume, et que Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig résume ainsi : « On peut dire sans exagération que Thomas Geider fut la première autorité dans tout ce qui concerne les arts de la parole et la littérature à caractère documentaire en Afrique » (p. 23). Ce que cela signifie dans le détail nous est illustré par les vingt-cinq contributions qui font des travaux de Thomas Geider un modèle ou établissent au moins avec elle un lien de proximité ou de simple suggestion. [...] À la fin du ce beau volume nous sont offerts quatre échantillons d’une série de photographies que Thomas Geider a consacrées aux différentes étapes de la collecte du vin de palme. Encore un exemple qui, comme d’autres dans ce volume, montre la dimension sensible et matérielle de la curiosité qui caractérisait ce spécialiste de l’art de la parole et des activités culturelles qui y sont liées. On souhaite que l’« esprit » et l’« ethos » des travaux de Thomas Geider restent encore vivants longtemps.

János Riesz in Études Littéraires Africaines, 45/2017, 277-280

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