Originally produced as a motion picture in 2008. Special features: Swahili history (11 min. A ground-breaking interview with Dr. Stephanie Wynn-Jones, archaeologist, on new perspectives in the study of Swahili history) ; Dreadlox (3 min. Alu Mohammed, resident of Lamu, illustrates the effects of the personal loss of culture and belief system). Special DVD-ROM feature: The Swahili coast, a brief history (PowerPoint presentation).
Summary:
"The Swahili beat is an upbeat look at the remarkable history of the Swahili people of Kenya and Tanzania's East African coast. Packed with the music and dance of its indigenous peoples, the film takes viewers along the coast from the fabled island of Lamu to Zanzibar, Mombasa, Kilwa, Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam, tracing the development of the Swahili culture through the intermarriage of Arab settlers, arriving from Oman in the 8th century, with local Africans. The resulting Islamic hybrid culture cemented economic and social stability. The emergence of the Swahili as prosperous merchant brokers in the Indian Ocean basin and in the growing East African slave trade made them a lucrative target for successive waves of settlers, invaders and colonizers, including the Persians, Portuguese, Arabs, Germans and British. The Swahili have withstood all these invasions and maintained their Afro-Arab Islamic culture until today. Can they survive in the face of globalization, the Internet and tourism?"--Container.
OCLC:
(OCoLC)298438341
Locations:
OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)
PQAX094 -- Wartburg College - Vogel Library (Waverly)
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.