عنوان

Portuguese Conceptual Categories and the

Number

LA115152

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Portuguese Conceptual Categories and the

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Jeremy Prestholdt

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

"This article demonstrates some of the conceptual limitations of the "Other" in the analysis of cross-cultural encounters by interrogating early modern Portuguese ideas about Swahili-speakers. Portuguese authors imagined Muslims of the East African coast as "after our fashion," and the intimate, though conflicted, relationships that developed between these two groups illustrate the legacies of such perceptions. The essay challenges the notion that Luso-Swahili relations were entirely antagonistic and suggests, instead, that Portuguese interpretations of Swahili-speakers as familiar allowed some East Africans to maintain, and even further, their commercial and political interests. Since Portuguese administrators in East Africa became dependent on the Swahili as a result of the conceptual categories they employed, we should more closely scrutinize the role and legacies of preconceptions in cross-cultural interaction. This article demonstrates some of the conceptual limitations of the "Other" in the analysis of cross-cultural encounters by interrogating early modern Portuguese ideas about Swahili-speakers. Portuguese authors imagined Muslims of the East African coast as "after our fashion," and the intimate, though conflicted, relationships that developed between these two groups illustrate the legacies of such perceptions. The essay challenges the notion that Luso-Swahili relations were entirely antagonistic and suggests, instead, that Portuguese interpretations of Swahili-speakers as familiar allowed some East Africans to maintain, and even further, their commercial and political interests. Since Portuguese administrators in East Africa became dependent on the Swahili as a result of the conceptual categories they employed, we should more closely scrutinize the role and legacies of preconceptions in cross-cultural interaction."

Date of Publication

2001

Physical description

383-406

Title

Journal of Asian and African Studies

Volume Number

36/4

International Standard Serial Number

1568-5217

Jeremy Prestholdt

Call Number

10.1163/15685210152691945

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y