Song as a Protest Tool for the Women in the Swahili Speaking Muslim Community: A Case Study of two Interior Settlements in Kidumu Municipality

Scholars have often argued that song as a genre in oral literature provides its person with a vehicle of selfexpression. the genre has, due to its therapeutic effect been exploited by the suffering and inferiorized in society to express their pains and agonies. Studies on Swahili literature indicate that the woman in the Swahili speaking society has never held an enviable position. This has been especially due to an entrenched patriarchal culture in this society. Endless debates on whether this characteristic of this society came with the Arab Colonialists or is inherent in the Swahili society could be held. For instance Ireri Mbaabu (1987:7) asserts that it derives from the Islamic culture. On the other hand Trimingham J.S. (1980:51), and my own research findings indicate that the instructions in Unyago which instruct towards wifely obedience and submissiveness are unaccepted in the Islamic teachings. It is probably impossible to settle once for all this long-standing debate. However, this study observes the fact that Swahili women were not better off in traditional coastal life, nor are they happier under the Islamic teachings. Thus during the re-Islamic and the prevailing Islamic erea, the female gender in the Swahili speaking society has been exploited. It has been suggested that through songs performed during the Swahili traditional women transitional rites - Unyago, the woman in this society could be expressing her innermost thoughts. This is the spring board of this study. The study has explored the woman's voice in Unyago ritual songs. Through the collection, categorisation and analysis of the thematic concerns of these songs, this study demonstrates the feelings and reactions these women have against the rigid and oppressive gender relations in their society. In essence therefore, this study observes these songs as a necessary setting for the study of feminine empowerment and thus protests and resistance in the Swahili speaking Muslim communities. The songs discussed therefore show the Swahili Muslim woman as one intending to aspire for freedom, recognition and self-fulfillment. This mere intention clearly over-shadows the passivity, submissiveness and domesticity long associated with womanhood in this society. The songs illustrate the struggle for a new image or portrait of the Swahili Muslim woman - one of resilience, courage, aggression, strength and resourcefulness.