Globalectical Swahili literature

The article argues that Swahili literature is one of the streams that would flow into the metaphoric sea which is world literature. Ngugi's concept of ‘globalectics' is used as the framework to address the global and local agenda of two Swahili works of narrative fiction. Babu Alipofufuka [When Grandfather Came to Life Again, 2001] by the Tanzanian Said A. Mohamed and Bina-Adamu! [God's Wretched Sons, 2002] by the Kenyan Kyallo Wamitila are analysed in order to achieve two aims: presenting these works as cultural bridges and maintaining that nowadays discourses on the nation cannot be detached from global contexts. The article concludes that globalectical works of narrative fiction in Swahili present an invitation to literary critics to start considering Swahili literature in discussions of world literature that are ignorant of such texts and traditions. Damrosch considers circulation, translation, and publication as the three signposts of world literature. This implies that works not translated into languages endowed with more prestige cannot qualify as world literature. The article suggests a further criterion for world literature.