Swahili in Military Context: Between World War I and World War II

Abstract

This chapter turns to the effects of World War I and World War II and their aftermath on the destiny of Swahili in East Africa, including the emergence of a Swahili variety used almost exclusively by conscripts of the King’s African Rifles. A distinction is drawn between British East Africa, German East Africa, and the Belgian Congo in terms of how World War I influenced the fortunes of Swahili. More important than the actual war itself for the future of Swahili was its outcome. The interwar period raised the important question of coordinating, if not integrating, the armed forces of the King’s African Rifles regionally. In the meantime, the imminence of World War II and the possibility of wider recruitment, as well as the problem of a suitable language of command, effective enough for a multilinguistic unit of East African forces, assumed a new prominence, with Swahili taking center stage and Swahili periodicals and media featuring as significant instruments of war.