
Home About People Program of Study Swahili Thingira Akwaaba Indaba Projects and Initiatives Contact Certificate Recipients Links	The Program in Swahili The Program in African Studies offers a four-term sequence of language instruction in Swahili. Completion of all four terms of sequence will satisfy the University language requirement. Occasionally, more advanced courses are offered. The program emphasizes the skills of speaking, reading, and writing Swahili as well as the cultural context of the East African nations where Swahili is spoken. Students are encouraged to consider studying abroad to complement their language study on campus. Courses include Elementary Swahili, SWA 101; Elementary Swahili II, SWA 102; Intermediate Swahili, SWA 105; and Intermediate Swahili II, SWA 107. Faculty Mahiri Mwita is a lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature. Mwita’s research interests include culture-based interventions in counseling and education, authentic cultural performances and interactions in the African language classroom, internet and emerging technologies in African language pedagogy, and literary criticism and creative writing in Kiswahili. He is completing his Ph.D. on “Breaking Cultural Barriers of HIV/AIDS Intransigence: An Examination of Theater-Against-AIDS Interventions in Kenya” from the University of Dar es Salaam. As a theater practitioner, he studies and practices the process, impact, and best practices of popular theater as a culture-based tool for social/behavior change education against HIV/AIDS. Aldin Mutembei, lecturer in Swahili for the 2007–8 academic year, is visiting from Tanzania’s University of Dar es Salaam where he is a lecturer in the Department of Kiswahili. His research interests include the relationship between language and literature and public health issues. An on-going project focuses on the social marketing of anti-HIV/AIDS messages in public spaces. Ph.D. Leiden University, the Netherlands.

The Program in Swahili

The Program in African Studies offers a four-term sequence of language instruction in Swahili. Completion of all four terms of sequence will satisfy the University language requirement. Occasionally, more advanced courses are offered. The program emphasizes the skills of speaking, reading, and writing Swahili as well as the cultural context of the East African nations where Swahili is spoken. Students are encouraged to consider studying abroad to complement their language study on campus.

Courses include Elementary Swahili, SWA 101; Elementary Swahili II, SWA 102; Intermediate Swahili, SWA 105; and Intermediate Swahili II, SWA 107.

Faculty

Mahiri Mwita is a lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature. Mwita’s research interests include culture-based interventions in counseling and education, authentic cultural performances and interactions in the African language classroom, internet and emerging technologies in African language pedagogy, and literary criticism and creative writing in Kiswahili. He is completing his Ph.D. on “Breaking Cultural Barriers of HIV/AIDS Intransigence: An Examination of Theater-Against-AIDS Interventions in Kenya” from the University of Dar es Salaam. As a theater practitioner, he studies and practices the process, impact, and best practices of popular theater as a culture-based tool for social/behavior change education against HIV/AIDS.

Aldin Mutembei, lecturer in Swahili for the 2007–8 academic year, is visiting from Tanzania’s University of Dar es Salaam where he is a lecturer in the Department of Kiswahili. His research interests include the relationship between language and literature and public health issues. An on-going project focuses on the social marketing of anti-HIV/AIDS messages in public spaces. Ph.D. Leiden University, the Netherlands.