Aniceti Kitereza

Aniceti Kitereza (* 1896 in Sukuma, Tanzania ; † April 20, 1981 in Kagunguli on Ukerewe , Tanzania) was a Tanzanian writer and theologian .

Kitereza was a king's grandson, his grandfather was King Machunda (the rainmaker) of the Basilanga-Bahinda clan on the island of Ukerewe in Lake Victoria . He became a Christian at the age of nine and then attended a mission school run by the Catholic White Fathers , later studying theology and languages. As a linguist, he spoke eight languages ​​(including Kikerewe , Swahili , German, English, French, Latin); he collected folk tales and wrote historical books.

His greatest success Die Kinder der Regenmacher (original title in Kikerewe: Bw. Myombekere na Bi. Bugonoka na Ntulanalwo na Bulihwali , "Mr. Myombekere and his wife Bogonoka, son Ntulanalwo and daughter Bulihwali") only appeared in 1981 at Tanzania Publishing House in Kiswahili as kiterezas own translation from the Kikerewe, in which the original manuscript is written. In 1990 the novel was first published in German, translated from Swahili by the Africanist Wilhelm JG Möhlig. The first translation into English followed in 2002, from the original language Kikerewe by Gabriel Ruhumbika. Aniceti Kitereza died in poor circumstances after he had last lived as a ujamaa farmer and was never able to hold the two printed volumes in his hands because they only appeared after his death.

The children of the rainmakers

In the two-part family saga, the life and love of a childless couple are portrayed, whose marriage threatens to fail because of this childlessness in traditional Africa before the colonial era. The book aims to put traditions, myths and laws of ancient Africa on paper for posterity. Aniceti Kitereza put it in his own words as follows: “I felt a desire deep inside me to keep the customs and the way of life of our ancestors as they actually lived them ... I feared that this great way of life of our ancestors and the principles they followed would one day be gone and completely forgotten. I felt that I had to write this down, otherwise future generations of our people would lose their rightful inheritance to the customs and traditions of their ancestors. "

Works (selection)

• The children of the rainmakers. Part 1: Marriage ISBN 3872947613
• The children of the rainmakers. Part 2: The family (partly also under Der Schlangentöter ) ISBN 3293202071
• The children of the rainmakers. 2008 new edition in one volume. ISBN 9783779501770
• How Men and Women came to live together ISBN 387294858X
• Mr. Myombekere and His Wife Bugonoka, Their Son Ntulanalwo and Daughter Bulihwali, The Story of an Ancient African Community, translation from the Kikerewe: Gabriel Ruhumbika, 2002 ISBN 9976 686 382

literature

• Charlotte M. Hartwig, Gerald W. Hartwig: Aniceti Kitereza: A Kerebe Novelist. In: Research in African Literatures, Vol. 3, No. 2, Indiana University Press, Fall 1972, pp. 162-170

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Aniceti Kitereza: The children of the rainmakers. Retrieved February 3, 2020 . 
2. ^ African Books Collective: Mr. Myombekere and his Wife Bugonoka, Their Son Ntulanalwo and Daughter Bulihwali. Retrieved February 3, 2020 . 

Web links

• Literature by and about Aniceti Kitereza in the catalog of the German National Library