Berichte und Kommentare 549 Gathercole, Peter The Limitations of an Ecumenical 1988 Context of Maori Moko. In: A. Rubin (ed.), Marks Language of Civilization. Artistic Transformations of the Human Body; pp. 171–177, 272–273. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History. The Case of Ki-Swahili Herlitz, Eva, und Klaus Herlitz Frans Wijsen and Ralph Tanner 2006 Die Buddy-Bär-Story. In: E. Herlitz und K. Herlitz (Hrsg.), United Buddy Bears. Die Kunst der Toleranz; pp. 8–9. Berlin: Buddy Bär Berlin GmbH. Hüttermann, Armin Western social scientists have found the concept of 1991 Neuseeland. Kunst und Reiseführer mit Landeskunde. homogenisation useful in their endeavour to under- Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. stand cultures other than their own. It made more MacLean, Alistair sense for them to give the title “The Nuer” or what- 1973 Der Traum vom Südland. Captain Cooks Aufbruch in die ever to the results of their fieldwork than to give Welt von morgen. München: Lichtenberg Verlag. their work a title such as “Some Aspects of Nuer Rand, Harry Life as Seen through the Cooperation of a Small 2007 Hundertwasser. Hong Kong: Taschen. Number of Informants and from a Limited Range Reed, A. W. of Personal Observations,” which would possibly 1972 A Dictionary of Maori Place Names. Wellington: A. H. be more appropriate. and A. W. Reed. However, there are no homogenous societies, Schifko, Georg except maybe for such rare cases as the inhabitants 2004 Überlegungen zur unterschiedlichen Präsentation von of Easter Island and other islands in the Pacific who Andreas Reischeks anthropologischer Sammeltätigkeit in Sterbende Welt (1924) und Weißer Häuptling der became isolated into extinction. But even in the Maori (1955). Ein Beitrag zur Biographieforschung. former case, their current language shows traces of Baessler-Archiv 52: 37–46. its Polynesian origin (Diamond 2005: 77–135). 2005 Das Moko im Spiegel von Jules Vernes Romanen. Ein East Africa with which we are concerned here Beitrag zur ethnographischen Rezeption und Imagologie der Maori in der Literatur. Mitteilungen der Anthropolo- has never been isolated to a degree which would gischen Gesellschaft in Wien 134/135: 177–190. have led to cultural homogenisation. Men have al- 2007 Anmerkungen zur Vereinnahmung von Maori-Tätowie- ways wandered about beyond their natal areas, and rungen in einem europäischen Spielfilm. Eine ethnologi- as far as we know there have been cultural or phys- sche Kritik. Anthropos 102: 561–565. ical invasions of Nilo-Hamites from the North and Smith, Francis R. V. Bantu from the South. In addition, there have been 1952 Finding an “Extinct” New Zealand Bird. Rediscovered substantial internal migrations which account, for by a Persevering Doctor, the Flightless, Colorful Taka- he, or “Wanderer,” Struggles to Survive. National Geo- example, for Sukuma communities in the South graphic 101/3: 393–401. as well as many who have worked in the South Taborsky, Michael African mines or visited Asia in the army during 1995 Das Geheimnis der Kinder des Waldgotts. Neuseelands World War Two. Nationalvogel unter der Lupe österreichischer Biologen. The concept of homogenisation developed quite Stapfia 41: 105–115. recently by creating geographical boundaries and Thenius, Erich giving those inside such boundaries a title, as it was 2000 Lebende Fossilien. Oldtimer der Tier- und Pflanzenwelt. in the case of the Sukuma of Tanzania who until the Zeugen der Vorzeit. München: Pfeil Verlag. 1950s did not consider themselves to be an ethnic Vasil, Raj K. group (Wijsen and Tanner 2002). Large numbers 1988 Biculturalism. Reconciling Aotearoa with New Zealand. of Sukuma and Nyamwezi men worked as porters Wellington: Victoria University Press. between the Great Lakes and the coastal ports. And Wolfe, Richard the coast itself has been influenced by a succession 1991 Kiwi. More than a Bird. Auckland: Random Century. of seaborne outsiders from India, Indonesia, China, Portugal, and Oman. It may well be that those involved within their natal cultures see themselves in homogenous terms although it contains innumerable imported ele- ments. This is the case with the copper bracelet in Sukumaland which is interpreted by the Sukuma as an indigenous ornament, whereas historical ev- idence shows that the copper bracelet was brought from the coast by Sukuma porters. Of course, the Anthropos 103.2008 https://doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2008-2-549 Generiert durch IP '170.106.33.42', am 27.09.2021, 02:38:58. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig. 550 Berichte und Kommentare social scientist may choose to simply reproduce Many coastal Swahili will have some relic the native’s point of view. But it is questionable knowledge of German and possibly some Hindi, whether such an approach can explain the complex- certainly a substantial amount of English and prob- ities involved in intercultural communication. ably a tribal language as well, all of which will We have to accept that any culture is in the con- become allied to the overall Bantu structure. This tinuous process of being invaded by outside facts means that the purveyors of ki-Swahili as the lingua and ideas from visitors, advertisements, newspa- franca of Tanzania will themselves have been sub- pers, television, wireless, and so on, over which ject to substantial linguistic influences way outside people have no objective control. These media do any basic Bantu semantic understandings. not have to be used actively to be influential. Those who learn ki-Swahili are creatures of We are always dealing with the degrees in which other cultural systems which do not accept or share new ideas and practices are used according to de- the quasi-Arabic understandings of that language, mographic and social factors. Even the simplest and as they have been brought up in social environ- most commonplace terms will give comprehending ments which have little in common with that of difficulties for those at the lower end of possible in- native ki-Swahili speakers. An extreme example of tellectual understanding and to those who are recent this would be those who have learnt ki-Swahili as a immigrants. professional requirement to the extent that they are Thus, we have to accept that most if not all cul- accepted as bilingual. However, this is in speech tures are composite and that there is an intercon- and writing but not in understandings. The ways nectedness of cultures which Hannerz (1992: 218) in which they use this new language reflect their calls the “global ecumene.” There is a constant pro- own culture. Intellectually and emotionally they cess of communication and translation both within will still be Sukuma, Haya, or indeed English. and between cultures. The aim of this article is to assess critically the notion of ki-Swahili as an ec- umenical langue (Mazrui and Mazrui 1995; 1998: Linguistic Secrecy and Its Individualism 171) in the light of our studies on religion and soci- ety in Usukuma (Tanner and Wijsen 1993; Wijsen The range of individual thinking is presumably un- and Tanner 2000, 2002). According to Mazrui and limited in how it works for the benefit of human Mazrui, the use of ki-Swahili as a lingua franca in beings. Individuals are only handicapped by phys- East Africa facilitated convergence between people iological and psychological incapacities of which of various tribes and religions. they may not be aware. Thinking is usually in their native tongue that is almost certainly more ade- quate for recounting simple facts than for express- The Constant Inevitability of Translation ing emotions. When it comes to writing, the pos- sibilities of adequate representation are further re- Translation is a multistage process which involves duced by various personal inadequacies and prob- initially the meanings which people attribute to ably the sheer impossibility of translating mental their natal knowledge. There is a problem already complexities into words. in ki-Swahili as ecumenical language as there are While there is always a possible intellectual as- only few monolingual ki-Swahili speakers. So to sessment of spoken and written words in terms of most ki-Swahili speakers the understandings of some assumed shared meaning, their importance their natal language will undercut the very con- to the individuals themselves is entirely personal. cept of monolingualism in contemporary Tanza- There is a constantly changing “working misunder- nia. standing” in which individuals interpret words and Of course, any language is a hybrid from its very phrases in ways that satisfy them in their privacies origins. But ki-Swahili particularly so because not but are often not what the communicator intended only is it a Bantu language grammatically but its (Tanner and Wijsen 1993). They have been under- first written form was in Arabic script, and much of stood in entirely private ways, which allows indi- its vocabulary is based on Arabic. Of the six nouns viduals to keep themselves psychologically and so- recorded in the dictionary for “belief,” five are cially secure, while at the same time getting at least based on Arabic. Currently, English words are used some of the advantages that come from assumed to circumvent ki-Swahili words which may not conformity. This is not a conscious duplicity but have the same meaning; the word “to develop” has one of the complex paradoxes which allow people been turned into a verb kudevelop; amebenziniwa is to exist socially while maintaining their individ- “to be corrupt.” uality. Anthropos 103.2008 https://doi.org/10.5771/0257-9774-2008-2-549 Generiert durch IP '170.106.33.42', am 27.09.2021, 02:38:58. Das Erstellen und Weitergeben von Kopien dieses PDFs ist nicht zulässig. Berichte und Kommentare 551 The Nature of Abstract Thought of the Maasai or into the “click” language of the Sandawe. But parts of languages are not transferred It is a fallacy of Western social science to assume in the abstract; they are communicated.