Creating urban communities at Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania, AD 800-1300

Antiquity ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (312) ◽  
pp. 368-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Wynne-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
Common Culture ◽  
Surface Survey ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Coast ◽  
And Migration

Urban communities on the medieval East African coast have been previously discussed in terms of ethnicity and migration. Here assemblages from coastal towns and from surface survey in the interior are used to paint a different picture of urban (Swahili) origins. The author shows that coast and interior shared a common culture, but that coastal sites grew into ‘stonetowns’ thanks to the social impact of imports: the material culture structured the society.

Women in Comoros

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Blanchy
Keyword(s):  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
International Program ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Coast

The inhabitants of the Comoros archipelago, situated between the East African coast and the island of Madagascar, are Muslim and at the same time follow a matrilocal residence rule and, in two of the four islands, a matrilineal descent rule. This has consequences for women’s place in society, though their status and power varies according to their age and place in the social hierarchy, and with the political context. This article draws on three examples taken from specific island contexts to illustrate forms of agency accessible to the Comorian women. It shows how, having previously been invisible in political life, women played a leading role in Maore Island to escape the domination of the other islands’ elite by choosing to remain a French territory. It analyzes the way ceremonial exchanges in Ngazidja Island give elder and younger sisters different opportunities and place different constraints upon them in terms of how they behave and lead their lives. Finally, it shows the unexpected impact of an international program addressing Ndzuwani women on their empowerment in a patriarchal social context.

scholarly journals The Relationship of the Cotton Crop to Plague, and its Role as a Vehicle for Rats and Fleas in East Africa

1935 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Isgaer Roberts
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Export Trade ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
Cotton Crop ◽  
African Coast ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Belgian Congo

Mombasa is the main port for the East African coast, handling all exports and imports for the two territories, Kenya and Uganda, which are incidentally the worst plague centres in the area. A fair amount of the Tanganyika and Belgian Congo produce also reaches this port. As Mombasa is the receiving centre for all the export trade of Kenya and Uganda, it might be expected that plague, if conveyable in any form or by any means, would appear regularly with the arrival of some of the main crops which are usually considered to be associated with the disease in the interior. Maize and cotton are generally supposed to be connected with the incidence of plague, and it is of particular interest to contrast briefly the figures for the incidence of the disease at the port within recent years and the periods of export of these crops.

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