Sheng': Kenya's Language of Defiance

La conferenza fa parte del ciclo delle Conversazioni linguistiche, una serie di incontri che offrono a linguiste/i italiane/i e internazionali un'occasione per confrontarsi sui rispettivi studi e per tenersi aggiornate/i sui nuovi sviluppi della ricerca.

• Mutanu Kyany’a - African Digital Heritage (Non-Profit Organization)

Abract

In her talk, Mutanu takes us through Sheng'; an argot language that was born in Nairobi in the 1960s that's a fusion of majorly English and Kiswahili, but also borrows from multiple other Kenyan languages. Taking on an auto-ethnographic angle, Mutanu acquaints us with the history of Sheng', it's spread in Nairobi and the rest of the country, plus the kind of encounters it has produced in its evolution. The talk delves into Sheng' as an expression of freedom thinking, as a language that centres play, as a language where art and activism meet and lastly, as a memory map. The talk hopes to serve as a perfect example of how language can be used to study the clash between hegemonic and minority cultures and identities, even as communities pursue
decolonization.

Modalità di partecipazione

• partecipazione in presenza, ogni venerdì dalle 12.00 alle 13.30. Ingresso libero. 
• partecipazione da remoto su piattaforma multimediale Zoom, ogni venerdì dalle 12.00 alle 13.30. Il link potrà essere richiesto inviando una mail all'indirizzo monica.menegon-1 [at] unitn.it