Women in Taarab: The Performing Art in East Africa (Schriften Zur Afrikanistik - Research in African Studies)

The study aims primarily at exploring the images of Swahili women as depicted in taarab songs in Zanzibar and factors that shape these images at different epochs or points in time. A secondary concern of the book is to highlight the history of taarab songs in Zanzibar and to identify the relationship between this art of songs and the Egyptian song. The author adopted a holistic approach, concentrating on sung lyrics. The analysis is descriptive and utilizes perspectives of literary theories of orature as well as insights from gender, cultural, structural, and functional theories.