Shaaban Robert (1909-1962), born on the 1st January in Vibambani village, next to Machui 10KM South of Tanga was the greatest of the Swahili didactic-moralistic writers of the colonial period. He went to Msimbazi School in Daressalaam between (1922—1926) where he was one of the first Tanganyikans to pass the examination for a School Leaving Certificate. He was employed by the colonial government (1926—1959) becoming a civil servant and later took part in several organizations such as the East African Swahili Committee, the East African Literature Bureau, the Tanganyika Languages Board and the Tanga Township Authority. He was a philosopher, a socialist, and a far-sighted participant in the anti-colonial movement. He was active during the last years of the British colonial regime in East Africa and the first years of the independent Republic of Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania), and his work played an enormous role in consolidating the anti-colonial forces in his country. So enamored of his works was Tanzania’s founding President Julius Nyerere, that he took it upon himself to popularize them. It is widely believed that Shaaban’s humanistic philosophy of love, peace and brotherhood could have influenced Nyerere to adopt Ujamaa (African socialism) with the Arusha Declaration of 1967.
Shaaban’s bureaucratic career was not brilliant. For most of his life he remained a modest clerk (karani) leaving him with hardly enough money to live on when he retired in 1959. That is despite having already become a famous writer. He had never been adequately paid for his books. Something he bitterly speaks about in his autobiography.
For his contribution to Swahili literature Shaaban Robert was awarded the Margaret Wrong Memorial Prize. He died in Tanga on June 22nd 1962 probably as a result of a tuberculosis relapse.
In the 1950s, Shaaban produced works in verse and prose dealing with burning social issues, such as freedom, equality, the rights of women and oppression. Shaaban Robert wrote several prose works, the finest of which, his autobiography Maisha Yangu. According to Ohly, Maisha yangu na Baada ya miaka hamsini may be regarded as a lesson in Swahili prose writing. Wasifu wa Bint Saad was another. His other works are mainly of an allegorical character, strongly oriental in setting and in flavour, like Kufikirika, (‘The Conceivable World’). They contain so many profound—if not moralistic—thoughts, that we might prefer to call them perhaps ‘philosophical tales. Two of his works, Insha na Mashairi, (‘Compositions and Poems’), and Masomo Yenye Adili, (‘Noble Lessons’, or perhaps ‘Righteous Readings’), contain a majority of poems interspersed with fables. He writes a moral lesson (adili) at the end of each of these prose as well as poetry passages.
Though published in 1952, the story Adili na nduguze (Adili and his brothers) seems to have been written earlier than the social reform novels Kufikirika and Kusadikika. The story lies close to oral literature: indeed, it is Shaaban’s interpretation of the folk tale of the youngest son and his evil brothers, coloured by his religious beliefs. The author provides an elaboration of the theme of evil as greed, and of good as righteousness and perseverance; these, together with the ultimate victory of good, are fundamental elements of the oral tradition.
Kusadikika
In 1951, Kusadikika, a satire on greed and the abuse of power, was published with the English subheading “A Country in the Sky”, his most known work. KUSADIKIKA is an utterly unique allegory on the shape of African post-colonial democracies. Its setting is a fabled country that floats in the sky, not mapped by cartographers, nor dreamt of by wise men but dominant in the imagination of our author. Faced with the question of development, they arrive at sending 6 delegates to their neighboring lands, to benchmark and see what leaf they can borrow when it comes to their own development. Only for the delegates to come back and find its leadership resistant, defensive, for all the changes are likely to disrupt the power dynamic. The main narrative follows our antagonist, Majivuno, a proud brilliant Minister who accuses Karimu, our protagonist for starting a legal practice without the government’s permission. His great objection to it being virtue of our protagonist’s birthright as well his age. The saving grace, in this court where the defendant isn’t allowed to defend himself, comes when the novelty of the practice raises the court’s curiosity for the term’s elaboration when they notice the clear double-speak of the chief justice when he says, “Legal practice is clearly a study of contending against the law.” And there, in his defense, he asks for 6 days to elucidate his case by telling the retrospective tales of the 6 delegates they sent outside their borders, each chapter tackles a country bordering KUSADIKIKA.
Shaaban Robert looks at the world of yesterday, and yet he feels like an omniscient presence commenting on our very reality. The 9 chapters present cautionary tales of the country’s resistance to change, whimsically deconstructing human relationships and tackles a societal ill, some chapters more fantastical involving mythological creatures. It’s all encompassed in the postcolonial geopolitical crossroads where only lip-service is paid to development, yet the leadership still wants to maintain the status quo. It’s provocative without being prescriptive laced with a radical optimism that bursts in full throttle with the resilience of the human spirit.
Utopian philosophy
With the approach of national independence and his own old age, Shaaban’s philosophy became more utopian. He tried to form a vision as to what type of society should be created after Uhuru. This is reflected in his later novels Utubora mkulima (1968) and Siku ya watenzi wote (1968), published posthumously in his Diwani. Both are situated in contemporary Tanganyika rather than in an imaginary country. Utubora mkuluma (Utubora the farmer) is an attack on capitalist colonial society and its evils, such as urbanization which dehumanizes and denaturalizes man. The main character, Utubora, gives up a well-paid job in a city office and returns to the poverty of rural life. (Perhaps Shaaban, who spent his whole working life as a clerk, is here rebelling at least in imagination — by expressing his contempt for this kind of work.) ‘The author asserts the superiority of rural values even to the extent of idealizing peasants’ poverty and affirming the nobility and necessity of labour and self-reliance. Besides proposing to eliminate urbanization through such reform measures as the voluntary return of young people to rural areas, Shaaban in this novel is concerned with the liberation of women, a recurrent theme in his writings. He tries to achieve it through moralistic warnings and threats of eternal damnation which are directed at the men. However, his statement that a successful marriage must be based on love and mutual respect and not on material interests is rather progressive for his time.
Post-Uhuru Society
Shaaban’s last novel, Siku ya watenzi wote (The day of all creators), was written in 1959-1960, on the eve of independence; in it he intended to answer the question of what kind of society should be built after Uhuru. The story is centred round five main characters: Yusuff, a lawyer who has just returned from a ten-year scholarship in Great Britain; Ayubu, the young leader of a movement called Jumuiya ya Adili (Community of virtue), which collects alms for the poor; Ayubu’s aunt ‘Tathmin; her fifteen-year-old relative Sarah; and Izak, a philanthropic capitalist. All are rich people who willingly contribute huge sums of money and personal assistance to aid the work of the Jwnuzya.
Shaaban’s description of the misery of the common man in Dar es Salaam is acute and moving, but for him this situation is the will of God and no-one can be held responsible for it. The solution he suggests is a religious unity that would transcend all political, economic and ethnic differences and unite all people of the world through love, peace and happiness. In practical terms, his social programme is summarized in his Community of Virtue, a panacea for the world’s ills, a community based on the doctrines of love and the brotherhood of all men, doctrines which can serve as bridges between the rich and the poor, as well as between people of different faiths.
On the socioreligious level it is a centre for the propagation and practice of these doctrines of love and virtue, and on the economic level it is a mechanism for the redistribution of wealth through voluntary philanthropy. In this sense, Shaaban Robert is an internationalist who believes in human brotherhood at a universal level. His ideas, however, are divorced from social reality since they are based on subjective speculation rather than a scientific understanding of society. Although he is indisputably a utopian thinker of universal stature, unfortunately there is no place for his utopia in modern society.” From a literary viewpoint Siku ya watenzi wote is not very satisfying; it presents many of the shortcomings which are intrinsic to this kind of writing.
Prolific poet
As stated previously, Shaaban Robert was basically a poet. It is in poetry that he has been most productive and innovative. His influence among Swahili speakers and writers has been tremendous. A great amount of recently produced poetry and prose reflects this influence, both in form and in content. Although he had little formal education (he attended school for only about six years), he is considered the greatest poet and most extensive thinker that Swahili literature has produced.” He was also one of the most prolific Swahili writers; at the time of his death in 1962, he had written more than twenty books, most of which were published posthumously in his Diwan. Among the genres which he introduced into Swahili literature is the essay (insha), represented by Azelezo cha insha (Model essays, 1954) and Insha na mashairi (Essays and poems, 1959). The latter contains brief pieces in prose interspaced with poems. Also during this period another Robert’s volume of poetry and prose appeared: Masomo yenye adili (Readings with moral, 1959) which is composed of didactic tales and poems, each followed by its adili (moral). The tales contain interesting themes, but their artistic form seems to be neglected, while the poems are written with consummate artistry.
Shaaban Robert was also a great scholar and connoisseur of classical Swahili poetry. Among his papers and articles on Swahili literature the best known is Hotuba juu ya ushairi (Speech on poetry). Like many of his contemporaries, however, he was above all a serious philosophical moralist. Some of his political and religious ideas, like unity of religions and equality of men and women, were ahead of his time and society. He was a product of the traditional Islamic way of thinking, but unlike his predecessors, he had the advantage of being in touch with other philosophical schools, above all with the Western idealist tradition. In fact, there are many parallels between the Swahili idealist school of thought and its Western counterpart, both being closely linked to religion.
References
- KNAPPERT, Jan (1979). Four centuries of Swahili verses. London: DARF PUBLISHERS.
- Bertoncini-Zúbková, Elena (December 1989). Outline of Swahili Literature: Prose, Fiction and Drama.