Team > Roberto Gaudioso
Roberto Gaudioso
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Euphrase Kezilahabi (Namagondo, 1944) is the most discussed contemporary Swahili writer. Beloved or hated, censored or applauded, he is the reformer of Swahili literature, who has had the biggest impact. Between the ‘60s and ‘70s he reformed Swahili poetry using consistent free-verse and a more everyday language as a result of an aesthetic and philosophical quest, which made him investigate both Western and African verbal art and philosophy. At the same time he contributed a lot also to the genre of the novel in Swahili. It should be noted that the first one Rosa Mistika was censured for its realism and the second Kichwamaji was applauded as one of the first existentialist African novels. In the ‘80s he changed the form of the Swahili novel and poetry toward allegorical and hermetic style, which involved a quest about time (linear and circular) that influenced both the rhythm (lyric and narrative) and the narrative progression of his works.
This made scholars see in his style various influences of African orality or Western postmodernism or Latin-American Magic Realism. These reforms are not just the result of an aesthetic exercise, but they are born out of philosophical necessity. In his verses, Kezilahabi transfers and rewrites Western philosophy in an African way, transforming philosophical concepts into metaphors or oniric images. Kezilahabi is influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche and by Martin Heidegger. These elements emerge in his PhD thesis where he explicitly speaks about the importance of the concepts of Being in Heidegger and the concept of Time in Nietzsche. Furthermore, his philosophy is not a summary of the influences from Western philosophy, but an original deep philosophy by one of the greatest African writers. In my research, I will focus on Kezilhabi’s idea of avoiding the objectification of the text, expressed in his PhD thesis, going beyond his essentialism. It is well known that, in contemporary studies, the cultural and post-colonial critique mainly focuses on the context of art and literature. Hence, I feel the importance of a new Werkimmanente Interpretation (Immanent Interpretation), focussing on the text qua aesthetic process. Thus, in other words, the text will be considered as a living event, meaning an experience of sense and knowledge that descends from senses of text. The aim of my PhD research is to analyse his texts (especially his poems) in order to understand and to describe how he has constructed his own poetics.
Academic and Scientific Vita:
9-18/3/2016: Roberto Gaudioso’s Seminar for Swahili Master Students on literary translation at University of Naples L’Orientale.
12/1/2016-7/2/216: Visiting Lecturer/Researcher 20 hours of teaching at the Institute of Kiswahili Studies, University of Dar es Salaam.
From 2015: Editor of Swahili Forum http://afrikanistik.gko.uni-leipzig.de/swafo/index.php/about/editors/39-gaudioso-roberto
From 2015: Editor of Smerilliana - Civiltà Poetiche: http://www.smerilliana.it/
From 2015: Scientific Committee of Tools of Formation and Education of Teacher Publisher House Liguori http://www.liguori.it/cercanew.asp?tipob=4&tipo=777&cod_collana=165&famiglia=collane
11/2014-12/2015: Supplementary Scientific assistant in Literatures in African Languages at University of Bayreuth.
2010/11-2012/13: Master of Comparative Literatures and Cultures (German and Swahili) at the University of Naples L’Orientale.
2010/2011: Grant-holder exchange student: Master of Swahili literature at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
2008/2009: Grant-holder exchange student (Erasmus Program) at the Humboldt University of Berlin.
2006/07-2009/10: Bachelor in Comparative Languages and Cultures (German and Swahili) at the University of Naples L’Orientale.
From 2015: Researcher group: Education and Politics at the University of Naples “Suor Orsola Benincasa” http://www.unisob.na.it/ateneo/c005_f.htm?vr=1
Paper presentations:
28-29/4/2016: Asixoxe – Let’s Talk! Soas (University of London) Conference on African Philosophy. Presentation: (with) Benedetta Lanfranchi: Beyond essentialism. Theorizing aesthetics as a common ground.
21-22/3/2016: International Study Days: “The worlds of Swahili Poetry: plural perspectives and ongoing researches” at University of Napoli “L’Orientale”. Presentation: On the way to song. Kezilahabi's poetics and Kerewe songs.
5/2/2016: Roberto Gaudioso’s Seminar “Fasihi si maji mafu, ni hai: Kezilahabi na Fasihi ya Kiulimwengu” at University of Dar es Salaam.
26/11/2015: Study Day on African Philosophies at University of Bayreuth. Presentation: Kezilahabi’s Philosophy and the Essentialism.
6/10/2015: Seminar: “La Parola e Oltre: Percorsi nell’Arte e nella Cultura Swahili” at University of Torino. Presentation: Muganga Gholita e Euphrase Kezilahabi: voce e scrittura a confronto.
10/6/2015: Seminar: “Sulle tracce del testo. Sentieri critici e interpretativi nella letteratura swahili” at University of Torino. Presentation: Il linguaggio del dolore e della libertà. Analisi ermeneutica e comparata dei testi di E. Kezilahabi.
3-6/6/2015: ALA (African Literature Association) Conference 2015 at University of Bayreuth African Futures and Beyond. Vision in transition. Presentation: Where truth, freedom and existence stay together: across-time. The poetics of Euphrase Kezilahabi toward future.
31/5-2/6/2015: XXVIII Swahili Colloquium at University of Bayreuth. Presentation: The arising Aesthetics in order to heal the existence: I. Bachmann, E. Kezilahabi, P.P. Pasolini.
1/-2/5/2015: Asixoxe – Let’s Talk! SOAS Conference on African Philosophy. Presentation: The influences of Kerewe Culture and German philosophy in Kezilahabi’s Thought.
5/3/2015: Roberto Gaudioso’s Seminar: Tanzania between Tradition and Innovation: The Poetics of Euphrase Kezilahabi, University of Granada, Spain.
17-20/9/2014: Africa on Movement ASAI (Association of African Studies in Italy) Biennial Conference at University of Macerata, Italy. Presentation: Reform of Swahili poetry and elements of metaphysic of voice in literary works of Euphrase Kezilahabi.
10-11/6/2014: Africanistentag Biennial Conference on African Studies in Germany at University of Bayreuth. Presentation: Transferring and Rewriting German philosophy in Euphrase Kezilahabi’s works.
8-9/6/2014: XXVII Swahili Colloquium at University of Bayreuth. Presentation: Shaaban Robert na Mrisho Mpoto: Chimbuko la mabadiliko ya fasihi ya Kiswahili na matokeo yake ya kisasa [Shaaban Robert and Mrisho Mpoto: The origin of changes in Swahili literature and its recent result].
12/6/2013: Seminar on Letteratura Swahili Post-Coloniale e Mutamenti Sociali in East Africa (Post-Colonial Swahili Literature and Social Changes in East Africa) at University of Torino, Italy. Presentation: Reform of poetic language: Philosophy of voice in the poetics of Euphrase Kezilahabi (elements of comparison with Pier Paolo Pasolini).
10-12/05/2013: XXVI Swahili Colloquium at University of Bayreuth. Presentation: Sauti na Falsafa za Euphrase Kezilahabi: Tafsiri ya sauti ndani ya ushairi wake kutoka ukulele, ukosekano wa sauti na taakali yake (Voice and Philosophy of Euphrase Kezilahabi: Translation of a voice in his poetics from scream, to silence, until onomatopoeia).
Summer schools:
4-8/6/2012: AOL Summer School African Oral Literatures Old and New media, traditional and new audiences: Fieldwork, methods and training at University of Napoli L’Orientale (in cooperation with INALCO-Paris, Leiden University, University of Hamburg, The World Oral Literature Project-Cambridge UK).
13-19/6/2010: Homelands in Translation, Summer School at University of Napoli L’Orientale (in cooperation with Universities of Napoli Federico II, of Halle, of Oxford, Copenhagen and EU Project “Europe as a Space of Translation”).
Conference organisation:
9/5/2016: II section of Asixoxe – Let’s Talk! SOAS (University of London) Conference on African Philosophy at University of Bayreuth.
21-22/3/2016: Interanational Study Days: “The worlds of Swahili Poetry: plural perspectives and ongoing researches” at University of Naples “L’Orientale”.
26/11/2015: Study Day on African Philosophies at University of Bayreuth.
31/5-2/6/2015: XXVIII Swahili Colloquium at University of Bayreuth.
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Current Research Project:
The written voice and the text as body: the poetics of Euphrase Kezilahabi and an approach against the objectification of the text.
Lats Activity:
11/2013 – 3/2017: PhD. Student at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” and University of Bayreuth (BIGSAS associated) on “The written voice and the text as body: the poetics of Euphrase Kezilahabi and an approach against the objectification of the text.”
Research interests:
East-African Literatures, Comparative Literature, Theories and practices of Translation, Aesthetics of Literature, Hermeneutics, Philosophy.
Faculty of Languages & Literatures
Literatures in African Languages
Roberto Gaudioso
PhD Student bei Literaturen in afrikanischen Sprachen
University of Bayreuth
Literatures in African languages
95440 Bayreuth