Changamoto Kubwa Ni Kuwa Mwanadamu Bora
James Baldwin: Being our best kaleidoscopic human
KISWAHILI
“Kwa hakika ninasadikishwa kwamba mojawapo ya misukumo mikubwa zaidi ya ubinadamu ni kufika kwenye mahali palipo juu kuliko hali ya asili tu. Jinsi ya kuwa kiasili haionekani kwangu kuwa shida fulani—kinyume chake sana. Changamoto kubwa ni jinsi ya kuwa--kwa maana bora ya neno hilo lililo kikalaidoskopo--[mwanadamu].” *
- James Baldwin (1954)
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“I am certainly convinced that it is one of the greatest impulses of [hu]mankind to arrive at something higher than a natural state. How to be natural does not seem to me to be a problem--quite the contrary. The great problem is how to be--in the best sense of that kaleidoscopic word--a [human].” *
- James Baldwin (1954)
Kuhusu (About):
KISWAHILI
James Baldwin (1924-1987) alikuwa mwandishi, mwandishi wa tamthilia na mwanaharakati wa haki za kiraia wa Marekani.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an author, playwright, and vocal U.S. civil rights activist.
KISWAHILI: Asante na tutaonana tena,
Mmerikani
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Thank you and may we see each other again,
Mmerikani
Chanzo (source): Baldwin, James. Collected Essays, selections made by Toni Morrison, 1988, 232. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/collectedessays0000bald/page/232/mode/1up?view=theater.
* In an effort be most inclusive—and with hopes that Baldwin would approve—Mmerikani updated Baldwin’s “mankind” to “humankind” and “man” to “human” in the quotation above. Perhaps interestingly, the Swahili words for humanity and human being are genderless. In Swahili (Kiswahili), when it is relevant to indicate a gender, then one could use the female adjective (mtoto wa kike = a baby girl) or the male adjective (mtoto wa kiume = a baby boy) or the distinct words for “a man” (mwanaume) or “a woman” (mwanamke).
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