Fishing songs from Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania : a case study of intangible marine cultural heritage on the Swahili coast
Abstract
Historically, fishers (both men and women) have engaged in different activities ranging from preparing fishing equipment (traps, nets, fishing vessels), weather forecasting, and sailing to fishing grounds and they continue to do so today. While sailing, fishers paddle collaboratively when the wind is low and when the boat is leaking, some crew will bail the vessel. Once they arrive at the fishing grounds, fishers cast anchor, mend the fishnets, and fix the boat foresheets. If successful, the fishers collect their catch, weigh the anchor, return to shore, and prepare to sell their fish. These fishing activities have always been accompanied by maritime customs, traditions, rituals, stories, and gestures. For instance, singing is one key tradition that has continued to accompany the fishing process from the start to the end. This paper documents and present the songs that have always been part of the fishing process in Kilwa Kisiwani, along the southern coast of Tanzania. The fishing songs are presented in the context of intangible cultural heritage of the east African Swahili coast.
Citation
Lubao , C B & Ichumbaki , E 2023 , ' Fishing songs from Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania : a case study of intangible marine cultural heritage on the Swahili coast ' , Journal of Maritime Archaeology , vol. 18 , pp. 165-195 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-023-09356-5
Publication
Journal of Maritime Archaeology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1557-2285Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Description
Funding: This work was funded by the University of St. Andrews, University of Dar es Salaam, British Institute in Eastern Africa, as well as the Arts and Humanities Research Council GCRF [grant number AH/R005443/1].Collections
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