Interwoven poems. The materiality of oral literature and contemporary responsibility

In Dahlem, the Ethnological Museum has housed a collection of twelve mikeka from the Lamu Archipelago since the late 19th century. These mats are special, not least because eight of them feature poems in Kiswahili woven into the fabric using Arabic script.

The mikeka tell more than just a story: they convey messages and bear witness to social relationships. They are closely intertwined with German colonial interests and presence in the Lamu Archipelago as well as the Witu region on the opposite mainland in the late 19th century. The reproduction of the Bwana Kisitavu mat preserved in the collections exemplifies how the mats interweave past and present.

The calligraphic mats from the East African Swahili Coast, as archives of oral literature, serve as the starting point for a conversation between philosopher Prof. Dr. Anne Eusterschulte (Freie Universität Berlin/EXC 2020) and researchers from the Talking Mats group on aesthetic practices, the social functions of “material” communication, and the necessity of engaging in an inter-epistemic dialogue.

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