Hekaya za Abunuwas: reading Abbasid histories and satire in East Africa

Through a few outstanding satirical literary works, ancient Abbasid histories have greatly influenced cultures of different parts of the world. Among these is the Swahili society that, through Hekaya za Abunuwas ‘The Tales of Abunuwas’, continues to partake of Abbasid satire. This speaks to the interconnectedness of the Arab and the Swahili worlds enabled by the Indian Ocean circuit. A number of East African literary scholars have critiqued Hekaya za Abunuwas without underscoring the text’s rootedness in Arabic histories. Thus, this article traces Hekaya za Abunuwas not only to the original composer – Abu Nuwas of medieval Basra, Iraq, but also examines the impact of his creative imagination on the East African coastal societies. In the same way Abu Nuwas’s revolutionary worldview evident in his poetry and tales was disruptive of Abbasid’s conservative socio-political and religiousregimes, so have his translated tales been to Indian Ocean communities. Through new historicism lenses, the article demonstrates that simple conflicts meant for children and young adult readers can illuminate significantly complex socio-political histories.