'Like Surah, Like Song': The Poetics of Faith, Femininity and Orality across the East African Diaspora

我的论文集中在当代非洲口头，探索信仰，女性主义和声音在散居东非诗歌的互连。作为一个融合了非洲、阿拉伯和伊斯兰影响的独特地区，东非的诗歌充满了精神抒情，包括歌曲、讲故事和古兰经经文的元素。生活在英国黑人和美国黑人社区的东非诗人在现代复兴了这种文学融合，他们结合了西方、伊斯兰和东非的口头遗产来放大黑人女性的声音（Henderson 2014）。根据霍尔（1990）的断言，音乐和灵性是非洲散居者的统一体裁，该项目将建立苏丹和索马里诗歌在形式、节奏和内容上的比较。探讨庇护所、宗教、女性反叛和母性等主题，我将对几位当代作家的诗歌进行深入分析：萨菲亚·埃尔希罗、埃姆蒂塔尔·马哈茂德、蒙塔扎·梅里、阿米娜·贾玛、拉丹·奥斯曼和瓦尔桑·夏尔。我的主要研究问题是：文学如何鼓励女性夺回受压迫的空间，给予她们反对父权制和她们周围的系统性不平等的声音？母亲母题在黑人女权主义和流散的非洲文学中是如何比较的？诗歌的见证如何被用来解除宗教压迫？“黑色自然”的标签在多大程度上是简化的？对散居黑人和东非诗歌传统的了解如何形成对诗人作品更细致入微的解读？本文将通过交叉和非殖民化的女权主义视角进行，采用反映作者形式，理论和身份融合的方法。通过研究whatAnzaldúa（2012）所说的“两种文化的协同作用”，我将探索诗人如何将黑人口语和东非诗歌结合起来，形成一种独特的流散式口语。此外，我将讨论诗歌中描绘的伊斯兰教义和本土迷信的融合，即邪恶之眼、精灵和黑魔法（Khalifa et al. 2011），创造了一种对女性的迷信文化（Federici2018），作者故意回收这种文化。超越男性研究（Bhabha 1994, Fanon 2008），我将重点关注对虐待和性行为的诗意描述，以及基于女性诽谤的文化民间故事（Courlander 1975,Andrzejewski 1964）。殖民时期的性别制度将被视为种族化的、跨性别排斥的结构（hooks 1981, lugoones 2007），引发了对女性身份的重新讨论。混合和第三空间（作为女性庇护所）将通过社会生殖理论进行探索（Bhattacharya 2017）；该项目将当代全球非殖民女性主义研究（verg<s:1> s2021, Lugones 2010）、子女焦虑（Williams 2016, Jenkins 2002）和性别伊斯兰恐惧症（Olufemi2020）结合起来，建立了对东非穆斯林女性的多方面讨论。非洲文学研究主要由西非和北非文学主导，我的项目通过创新和交叉的方法对东非文学的研究做出了贡献，通过他们共同的精神抒情，流离失所和流散经历的叙述，将苏丹和索马里诗歌联系起来。该项目提议的BAME播客、BoningtonGallery的学生诗歌展览以及新艺术交流的All Black Connect Showcase展示了交叉的声音。

My thesis concentrates on contemporary African orality, exploring the interconnection of faith, femininityand voice in diasporic East African poetry. As a region unique for its blend of African, Arab and Islamicinfluences, East Africa's orature is steeped in spiritual lyricism, comprising elements of song, storytellingand Quranic verse. East African poets living in Black British and African American community revive thisliterary merging in the modern age, employing a combination of western, Islamic and East African oralheritages to amplify Black female voice (Henderson 2014). Drawing on Hall's (1990) assertion that musicand spirituality are unifying genres across the African diaspora, the project will establish comparisonsbetween Sudanese and Somali poetry in form, rhythm and content. Exploring themes of sanctuary,religion, female rebellion and motherhood, I will conduct a close analysis of poetry by severalcontemporary authors: Safia Elhillo, Emtithal Mahmoud, Momtaza Mehri, Amina Jama, Ladan Osman andWarsan Shire. My primary research questions are:How does orature encourage women to reclaim spaces of oppression, granting a voice to speak againstpatriarchy and the systemic inequality of their surroundings?How does the mother motif compare across Black feminist and diasporic African literature?How is poetic testimony used to dismantle religious oppression?To what extent is the label of 'black orature' reductive; how can an awareness of both Black diasporicand East African poetic traditions form a more nuanced reading of poets' works?The thesis will be conducted through an intersectional and decolonial feminist gaze, adopting amethodology that reflects the authors' amalgamation of form, theory and identity. Engaging with whatAnzaldúa (2012) refers to as a 'synergy of two cultures', I will explore how the poets hybridize Black7 / 23spoken word and East African poetic verse to form a uniquely diasporic orality. Additionally, I will discussthe amalgamation of Islamic doctrine and indigenous superstition depicted within the poems i.e. evil eye,jinn, and black magic (Khalifa et al. 2011), creating a culture of superstition towards women (Federici2018) that the authors wilfully reclaim.Moving beyond male scholarship (Bhabha 1994, Fanon 2008), I will highlight poetic depictions of abuseand sexuality, contesting cultural folktales based on feminine defamation (Courlander 1975,Andrzejewski 1964). Colonial gender systems will be interrogated as racialised, trans-exclusionaryconstructs (hooks 1981, Lugones 2007), prompting a reinvigorated discussion of womanhood. Hybridityand third spaces (reclaimed as female sanctuaries) will be explored through social reproduction theory(Bhattacharya 2017); interweaving contemporary global scholarship on decolonial feminism (Vergès2021, Lugones 2010), filial angst (Williams 2016, Jenkins 2002) and gendered Islamophobia (Olufemi2020), the project establishes a multifaceted discussion of East African Muslim womanhood.With African literary studies largely dominated by West and North African literature, my projectcontributes to research on East African orature via an innovative and intersectional approach, connectingSudanese and Somali poetry through their shared spiritual lyricism, narratives of displacement anddiasporic experiences. The project's proposed BAME podcast, student poetry exhibition at BoningtonGallery and placement with New Art Exchange's All Black Connect Showcase offers representation forintersectional voices.