| dc.description.abstract | Swahili poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have foregrounded
adapted perfumery customs with great reverence in their works. It functions as a
vital cue to trans-Indian Ocean commonalities and as a marker of the influence
of Arabian-Manga civilisation and perfumery practices on the Swahili customs.
This paper examines the culture of scent in selected poetic works attributed to
Fumo Liyongo and Mwana Kupona Mshamu. Interestingly, the geography of
the female body parts is fused with oriental scents to excite consensual romantic
intimacy. We argue, besides historically echoing the sensuousness of oriental
perfumery in Swahili culture, that these two poets subliminally de-odorise body,
mind and soul of their readers to experience imagery of passionate intimacy.
Specifically, this article intends to focus on two prominent motifs of cross-
cultural adornment: the use of Manga attar unguent, fragrance and perfume, and
the scenting of genitalia. The article confronts these postulations concretised on
an approach based on Georges Bataille’s theory of eroticism. According to Carl
Olson, Bataille was an influential French postmodern thinker and writer who
argued that human life could best be understood by the interconnections and
workings of eroticism (1994:231-250). He mixes philosophy and anthropology
to talk about eroticism. According to Minguy, Bataille, through erotic
transgressions, saw the possibility for true human freedom and communication.
This theory, therefore, guides our arguments and counter-arguments,in the present article. It is the fulcrum upon which our discussions are premised. | en_US |
