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Beez, Jigal. "They Are Crazy These Swahili: Komredi Kipepe in the Footsteps of Asterix. Globalization in East African Comics." International Journal of Comic Art 5. (2003): 95–114. Added by: Deleted user (8/11/09, 12:25 PM) Last edited by: joachim (9/25/12, 7:01 PM) |
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| Resource type: Journal Article Language: en: English BibTeX citation key: Beez2003b Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: "Astérix", "Komredi Kipepe", "Sani", Adaptation, Africa, France, Goscinny. René, Katembo. Chris, Tanzania, Uderzo. Albert Creators: Beez Collection: International Journal of Comic Art |
Views: 58/1822
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| Attachments | URLs http://independent ... ast_African_comics |
| Abstract |
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The French trivial epic Asterix (Stoll 1974: passim) has been translated into more than one hundred languages and dialects worldwide (Selles 2002), thus making Asterix a global phenomenon with millions of readers. But for African readers, Asterix is accessible only through Arabic, English, French, Portuguese or Afrikaans but not through any African language. Nevertheless, comic culture thrives in Africa, especially in Tanzania, where at least two dozen magazines are dedicated to comics in Swahili. In one of the oldest of them, SANI, the comic artist Chris Katembo published his story Komredi Kipepe na Kisa cha Bi Arafa (Comrade Kipepe and Ms. Arafa). In this episode the well known Swahili comic figures Kipepe and Madenge rescue the kidnapped mganga, healer, Bi Arafa. It has striking parallels to Asterix and Obelix saving Getafix out of the wraths of the Goths. This article aims to demonstrate how close Katembo’s work is to Goscinny’s and Uderzo’s classical comic volume Asterix and the Goths by comparing both narratives, their language and their artistic realisation. But not only the similarities are pointed out. Moreover the way in which Katembo appropriates the episode into an East African setting is examined. He produces more than just another mere translation of Asterix. It is not that Asterix can speak Swahili now, but he has changed to become a real mswahili. Added by: joachim |