Publisher's Synopsis
This volume is based on papers presented at a workshop at the School of Oriental and African Studies in October 1992. The key issue centred on the paradox concerning Swahili-speakers throughout East Africa: on the one hand coastal and inland cultural, political and sometimes religious interests pull away from each other; on the other hand, the more Swahili becomes regarded as a main language, the more it draws its speakers to a cultural association with the peoples of the coast and to a sense of shared identity.
