Desturi za Waswahili (PP MS 20-4a)
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Material Information

Title:
Desturi za Waswahili (PP MS 20-4a)
Series Title:
Allen Collection :
Creator:
Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari ( Author, Primary )
Allen, J. W. T. ( contributor )
Publication Date:
Materials:
Paper ( medium )
Technique:
Typescript manuscript mainly with black ink on old papers

Notes

Abstract:
This file contains seven envelopes with various sections of the typescript manuscript of the book ‘The Customs of the Swahili people. The Desturi za Waswahili of Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari’ edited and translated into English by JWT Allen and published in 1981 at University of California press. However the first scholar to collect these information from Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari and Other Swahili people was the German linguist Carl Velten who published his findings in 1903 under the title ‘Desturi za Wasuaheli na khabari za desturi za sheri’a Wasuaheli’. A manuscript copy of the 1903 version is contained here in envelope 5. Subsequently, Allen found further information that he edited and translated in his book, based on the present seven envelopes manuscript. Allen stated in the preface to the book that ‘The Desturi is an account of Swahili civilization made when it was already centuries old and had achieved so much, at the very moment when it received the full impact of Western intrusion’ (p.vii). The last envelope of this file contains correspondence relating to the publication of the manuscript. ( en )
General Note:
Biographical information: Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari was a Zaramo who lived in Bagamoyo on the coast and was one of the first informant to Prof. C.Velten when he began collecting information about the customs of the Swahili people. Mtoro was a religious scholar who read Ilimu under Sh. Abubakar bin Taha ‘l Barawy, however he also worked under the German administration as tax clerk. He then moved to Berlin to teach Arabic together with Prof. Velten, and married his wife in Germany where he lived all his life.
General Note:
Date of Composition: circa 1903 AD (circa 1321 A.H.)
General Note:
Extent: 7 envelopes
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/134466549
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Allen, J. W. T. : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/66595653
General Note:
Africa -- Eastern Africa
General Note:
Donated to SOAS in 1982
General Note:
Publication information: Velten, C. 1903. Desturi za Wasuaheli na khabari za desturi za sheri’a Wasuaheli. Vandenhock and Ruprecht, Gottingen, Germany.
General Note:
Publication information: Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari, Allen JWT. 1981. The Customs of the Swahili People. The Desturi za Waswahili of Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari and Other Swahili persons. University of California Press

Record Information

Source Institution:
SOAS University of London
Holding Location:
Archives and Special Collections
Rights Management:
This item may be in the public domain. Its status has yet to be assessed.
Resource Identifier:
PP MS 20-4 ( SOAS manuscript number )
PP MS 20-4a ( SOAS manuscript number )