THE BLASON POPULAIRE IN SWAHILI PAREMIA

Abstract

The stereotypes of self or others, blasons populaires, are hereby drawn from the Swahili paremic material spanning the years 1850-1950 along the East African coastal littoral. Specifically, I will focus on how the Swahili at that time verbally stereotyped others in particular their akin neighbors and immigrant foreigners. It seems that the Swahili employed proverbial invectives not only to malign peripheral sub-groups but also to humorously rebuke superior out-groups.

Keywords

• Africa
• blasons populaires
• ethnic stereotypes
• ethnonym
• in-group
• out-group