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

我的论文以当代非洲口头文学为研究对象，探讨东非散居诗中信仰、女性和声音的相互联系。作为一个独特的融合了非洲、阿拉伯和伊斯兰影响的地区，东非的歌词充满了精神抒情，包括歌曲、讲故事和古兰经诗句。生活在英国黑人和非裔美国人社区的东非诗人在现代复兴了这种文学融合，利用西方、伊斯兰和东非口头遗产的组合来放大黑人女性的声音(亨德森2014)。根据霍尔(1990)的断言，音乐和灵性正在统一散居海外的非洲人的诗歌流派，该项目将对苏丹和索马里诗歌在形式、节奏和内容方面进行比较。探讨避难所、宗教、女性反叛和母性等主题，我将仔细分析几位当代作家的诗歌：萨菲亚·埃尔希罗、埃米塔尔·马哈茂德、蒙塔扎·迈赫里、阿米娜·贾马、拉丹·奥斯曼和沃桑·夏尔。我的主要研究问题是：口述如何鼓励女性重新获得受压迫的空间，让她们发出反对父权制和环境系统性不平等的声音？母亲主题如何与黑人女权主义文学和散居海外的非洲文学进行比较？诗意的证词如何被用来消除宗教压迫？“黑人散居文学”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认识如何能够形成对诗人作品的更微妙的解读？本论文将通过交叉和非殖民的女性主义凝视，采用反映作者形式、理论和身份的融合的方法。在Anzaldúa(2012)所说的“两种文化的协同作用”中，我将探索诗人如何将Black7/23口语和东非诗句混合在一起，形成一种独特的散居海外口述。此外，我将讨论在诗歌中描述的伊斯兰教义和土著迷信的融合，即邪恶的眼睛、精灵和黑魔法(Khalifa等人)。超越男性学术(Bhabha 1994，Fanon 2008)，我将强调对虐待和性的诗意描述，驳斥基于女性诽谤的文化民间故事(Courlander 1975，Andrzejesski 1964)。殖民的性别制度将被视为种族主义的、跨排斥的建构(Hooks 1981，Lugones 2007)，这将重新引发关于女性身份的讨论。这个项目将通过社会再生产理论(Bhattacharya 2017)探索超脱空间和第三空间(被称为女性避难所)；交织当代关于非殖民主义女权主义(Vergès 2021，Lugones 2010)、孝道焦虑(Williams 2016，Jenkins 2002)和性别恐惧症(Olufemi 2020)的全球学术研究，建立对东非穆斯林妇女的多方面讨论。由于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，通过苏丹和索马里共同的精神抒情、流离失所和流亡经历，将他们的诗歌联系起来，为东非文学研究做出贡献。该项目拟议的BAME播客、博宁顿画廊的学生诗歌展览以及与新艺术交易所的All Black Connect Showcase的安置为不同的声音提供了代表。

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.