Paper short abstract:

Based on fieldwork carried out with forced migrants from southern Somalia to Tanzania I shall show how memories of past events get newly gendered features thanks to the loss of meanings in the Zigula v. Swahili translations

Paper long abstract:

Forced migrations, either present or of the past, imply a process of constructing and modifying versions of the past events which become codified in memories. A number of factors interact in this process, some aspects are silenced and others are emphasized, and new events may be invented. One of the arguments I made in the past is that, along the way, the memories of the past, especially if gathered and codified by writing them down, may lose a number of meanings that are unknown to people who codify them. Matriliny has been one aspect that has not been recognized or emphasized by those who codified certain traditions of migrations at specific historical times.

I this paper I shall show that in the process of seeking adaptation to Tanzania after forced migration occurred in 1992 from the war in Somalia some changes in the memories of the past have occurred. Particularly I shall highlight how the Swahili language, as a language where gender is not marked by prefixes or suffixes, plays its role in the newly featured memories of the past and a male discourse becomes dominant.