This fascinating book A Language for the World: The Standardisation of Swahili authored by Morgan J. Robinson speaks eloquently to the temporal transformation of Swahili from an informal (essentially vernacular-like) into a formal (diplomatic) language. Specifically, the author extensively mapped the trajectories of this eastern African language from its deployment as lingo for trade and commercial activities (by missionaries, local business people, external traders among others) into the communicative medium for local governance initially and international diplomacy ultimately—as evinced by its adoption as one of the official languages of the African Union (AU).
The book is partitioned into six big chapters—each internally consistent and the composite functional—broadly reflecting the full spectrum of interconnected events that culminated in the emergence of Swahili as “a language for the world.” Chapter One traces the contours of Swahili’s linguistic historiography commencing with the apt acknowledgement of the previous linguistic labour which had been supplied by key actors such as Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann. To the author, these prior efforts laid the groundwork for latter refinements embarked upon by the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) which codified the erstwhile Zanzibar dialect named Kiunguja into a broader form Swahili which then became the missions’ evangelical language. Consequent upon these, the late 1800s saw the rise to prominence of print materials in the form of handbooks, scriptural translations as well as other documentation formats in Swahili. These first two decades (1864–84) clearly marked the beginnings of the longue durée process of “the standardization of Swahili.”
In Chapter Two, there is an engagement with the modes of contemplation embraced by the mission in its effort to imagine the future of its standardized Swahili. As espoused by the author, two remarkable changes headlined this epoch, namely rapidly expanding mission reach and ubiquity of means of communication. Put together, these offered the requisite impetus for the mission (Upelekwa) work. A key highlight of this interesting chapter is the author’s careful documentation of the collaborative nature of Swahili language evolution by highlighting, and balancing, the role of Western missionaries as well as appropriately ascribing agency to African converts, especially their work in building and expanding the geography of the language beyond Zanzibar. Chapter Three houses profound arguments about contestations between the expectations of the colonial state and language policies on the ground in East Africa. It also describes this era within which Swahili morphed into an intermediary language for administrative purposes. However, World War I epitomized a clog in the wheel of progress as it marked the severance of German influence from the making of Swahili. This notwithstanding, the resilience of African adherents was critical to the preservation of the language.
The crux of Chapter Four is arguably the incursion of the British into the terrain of translation via their Inter-Territorial Language Committee (ILC). This, in the view of the author, exemplifies “a pragmatic imposition of linguistic imperialism.” Moreover, the chapter also revealed the context and contestations within the British colonial government of East Africa in its efforts to standardize Swahili. By far the most evident manifestation of such tensions was signposted by the ILC’s reliance on domestic peoples, especially for assistance with pronunciations. The establishment of the East African Literature Bureau (EALB) looms large in the narrative in Chapter Five. In consonance with the tensions experienced by its precursor, that is ILC, the EALB equally grappled with maintaining harmonious balance in terms of accurately assessing the requirements of Swahili users in a setting where it was counterproductively attempting to at once solely define the precise nature of these same needs. Beyond the EALB’s structural posturing as an institution for perpetuating British colonial language hegemony, it inadvertently served as a vehicle for fostering the participation of East Africans themselves in the nonlinear process of producing literary works in standard Swahili.
In Chapter Six, the author elucidates the language reforms that arose following the end of World War II. This was an era of widespread proliferation of developmental colonial states in Africa. Shortly afterwards, precisely from about the 1950s, standard Swahili gained more traction as a language for political mobilization, identity construction and most importantly a significant cultural locus for critical reflection particularly in communities. In all of these six chapters, the author’s train of thought clearly reinforced the consciousness that the history of the standardization of Swahili was neither monolithic nor linear.
Although this book is incisive and excellent in its narrative structure, it shows a tendency to confound the reader as it tried to weave together contrasting scales simultaneously, especially as it deals with the short term and the long term on the one hand and its depictions of action as top-down and bottom-up on the other hand. Another challenge with the book, which is not uncommon to historical narratives, is the tough question of “the beginning of the beginnings.” In other words, the author—in a bid to retain focus on her core interests—did not provide appreciable background as to the relationships between Swahili and other languages, especially prior to the nineteenth century. Nonetheless, the insights from this thoroughly researched book will be informative for scholars in history, religious studies and many other humanistic fields (including the social sciences).
