Talking about oneself to act in the world: a Swahili autobiography (Shaaban Robert, Maisha yangu na baada ya miaka hamsini [My life and after fifty years])

Shaaban Robert wrote three autobiographical texts at different times in his life. The first, which is lost, covered his childhood and had been written when he was 27; the second, which corresponds to the first part of this work, was written at the age of 37, covering the period 1936-1946. The last was completed in 1960, but covers the period 1946-1959. It must be emphasised that the poet’s life cannot be compartmentalised into separate, successive stages. Over and above a chronological division of events, the two sections of the book can be differentiated by the different periods when they were written and thus the different viewpoints on what happened throughout his life. Philippe Lejeune´s definition of an autobiography as ´a retrospective prose narrative made by a real person about their own existence, emphasising their indi¬vidual life and in particular the development of their personality´ (Lejeune 1996: 14), is a familiar one. This definition fits Shaaban Robert´s text perfectly and yet, in the Swahili context, such an endeavour could have encountered many obstacles.