User:Liacovone100/Chege wa Githiora

Dr. Chege Githiora, Aka JB Chege
Chege Githiora is a professor linguistics, translator, and short story writer. He was born and raised in Kenya. He lived in Mexico for six years before proceeding to the U.S. In 1999 he graduated with his doctorate in Linguistics from Michigan State University. He taught Swahili at El Colegio de Mexico and at Boston University from 1998 to 2000 before taking up his current position at the University Of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where he is the senior lecturer of Swahili

Academic Career
Githiora’s academic research and writing is on east African languages and the African Diaspora. He does descriptive studies of East African languages and cultures. Some of his creative writing has appeared in the edited Global Anthology of New Black Literature and Kenya's literary journal Kwani?. He is author of the Diccionario Swahili-Espanol. He has published on issues of Gikuyu orthography and Swahili lexicography, and on language, culture and identity in the African Diaspora with a focus on Latin America. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and Swahili. Dr. Githiora has also contributed work as a graduate’s assistant to the African Media Program, a project of the African Studies Center located at the State University of East Lansing in Michigan. The project, completed in 2002, was a guide referencing all types of media, both audio and video that pertained to Africa. His reviews and auxiliary materials helped the online database expand. Dr Githiora presently holds Chair of the Centre of African Studies. As of October 2010 he was requested to speak across all of London's state schools and colleges in honor of Black History month.

"In the Heat of the Moment"
Published in the second series of the Kenyan literary journal, Kwani?, in 2004, this short story focuses on two characters, one Githiora himself, and the second an Afro-Mexican man. The lesson of this particular story is in acknowledging every person’s freedom and equality while simultaneously respecting other races. A central theme is knowing when to set boundaries. The story begins when Githiora and an Afro-Mexican meet each other while riding a bus. After a brief discussion about their beliefs about the origin of the Afro-Mexican, they are unable to agree on the stereotype of laziness as part of the African culture. The Afro-Mexican judges Githiora without using rationale or showing respect for a race that might have proceeded him, making comments such as "they don't like to work". Githiora believes these to be false assumptions, asserting that while a small percentage of Africans may not have the freedom or the opportunity to work, this does not mean every single person of that race is to be categorized. Holding back and carefully trying not to insult the Afro-Mexican, Githiora maintains his stance that it is disdain of African culture that contributes to his lack of advance. Githiora ends with using Martin Luther King as an example of someone who made a great effort to expel such myths about Africans and people of African decent.

Books Authored
* Afro-Mexicans: Discourse of Race and Identity in the African Diaspora (2008) * Diccionario Swahili-Espanol (2002) * Simple Swahili * The Ten Shillings and Other Stories: An Anthology of Short Stories from All Over Africa.

Books Co-Edited
* KINYIRA NJIRA! Step Firmly on the Pathway, With Heather Littlefield and Victor Manfredi (2004)

Books Contributed To
# Kwani? 02 (2004)   # Countries and Languages of the World: Kenya (2006) # Kenya: Language and the Search for a Coherent National Identity (2008) # Swahili: World Citizen Edition

Short Stories
* In The Heat of the Moment (2004)

Articles
* Sheng: Peer Language, Swahili Dialect or Emerging Creole? (2002)   * Some Problems and Insights in the Lexicography of Two Non-Kindred Languages: Spanish and Swahili (2001)