Transoceanic print histories: twentieth-century Swahili Muslim networks in the Indian Ocean

Raia, A.

doi:doi:10.1163/21540993-20220002

At a time of sociocultural changes that started questioning established Islamic learning
traditions (independence years, post-Cold War/book market liberalization), printing
diasporas exerted influence on the circulation of Islamic texts in East Africa: published
overseas (Cairo, Beirut, and the Indian subcontinent) and/or locally reprinted on the
Swahili-speaking Islamic coast, they came to play a seminal role in negotiating Swahili
Muslim literary culture. How have transoceanic religious and intellectual networks
operating beyond national borders become intertwined? In this paper, the beginnings
of Swahili Muslim book publishing—and the entities underpinning it, such as Nairobi’s
Islamic Foundation Center, a Pakistani-oriented charitable foundation—will be
outlined. I will then delve into the history of Indian-and-Swahili family-run publishers
Adam Traders based in Mombasa in order to tackle hitherto neglected transoceanic
Show more
At a time of sociocultural changes that started questioning established Islamic learning
traditions (independence years, post-Cold War/book market liberalization), printing
diasporas exerted influence on the circulation of Islamic texts in East Africa: published
overseas (Cairo, Beirut, and the Indian subcontinent) and/or locally reprinted on the
Swahili-speaking Islamic coast, they came to play a seminal role in negotiating Swahili
Muslim literary culture. How have transoceanic religious and intellectual networks
operating beyond national borders become intertwined? In this paper, the beginnings
of Swahili Muslim book publishing—and the entities underpinning it, such as Nairobi’s
Islamic Foundation Center, a Pakistani-oriented charitable foundation—will be
outlined. I will then delve into the history of Indian-and-Swahili family-run publishers
Adam Traders based in Mombasa in order to tackle hitherto neglected transoceanic
connections and patterns of influence across the sea.
Show less

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Transoceanic print histories: twentieth-century Swahili Muslim networks in the Indian Ocean