Editing Shaaban bin Robert

{{Short description|Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   =
| name               = Shaaban Robert
| honorific_suffix   = [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|MBE]]
| image              = Shaaban bin Robert.jpg
| birth_name         = Shaaban bin Selemani
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1909|01|01|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = Vibamba village, [[Tangasisi]], [[Tanga Region|Tanga]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1962|06|20|1909|01|01|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Dar es Salaam]], [[Tanzania]]<ref name="Chipasula2009">{{cite book|author=Frank M Chipasula|title=Bending the Bow: An Anthology of African Love Poetry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQBrThtyKeYC&pg=PA283|date=5 August 2009|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-8638-3|pages=283–}}</ref>
| death_cause        =
| resting_place      = Machui, [[Tangasisi]], Tanga Region
| nationality        = Tanzanian
| education          =
| alma_mater         =
| occupation         = Civil servant, writer, poet
| years_active       = 1932–62
| known_for          = [[Kiswahili language|kiswahili]] literature
| notable_works      = ''Kusadikika''
| spouse             = Amina
| children           = 10
| parents            =
| awards             = [[Margaret Wrong Prize and Medal for African Literature]]
| module             =
| signature          =
| signature_alt      =
| signature_size     =
| website            =  
| footnotes          =
}}

'''Shaaban bin Robert''', also known as '''Shaaban Robert''' (1 January 1909 – 20 June 1962), was a Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist who supported the preservation of [[Tanzania]]n [[Verse (poetry)|verse]] traditions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Killam |first=G. D. |author2=Ruth Rowe |title=The Companion to African Literatures |year=2000 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-33633-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/companiontoafric0000unse }}</ref> Robert is celebrated as one of the greatest Tanzanian Swahili thinkers, intellectuals and writers in East Africa and has been called "poet laureate of Swahili" and is also known as the "Father of Swahili."<ref name=shaaban>{{Cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404705882.html |title=Shaaban Robert |publisher=Encyclopedia.com |year=2004 |accessdate=2008-06-27}}</ref> He is also honoured as the [[national poet]].<ref name="CameronDodd2014">{{cite book|author1=J. Cameron|author2=W. A. Dodd|title=Society, Schools and Progress in Tanzania: The Commonwealth and International Library: Education and Educational Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=73eoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57|date=17 May 2014|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-1-4831-5914-0|pages=57–}}</ref>

==Biography==
Shaaban was born to a father of [[Yao people (East Africa)|Yao]] decent and mother of [[Digo people|Digo]] heritage at village of Vibamba, [[Tangasisi]] ward of [[Tanga District]], located south of [[Tanga, Tanzania|Tanga City]] in [[Tanga Region]], Tanzania (then [[German East Africa]]). The surname Robert is a name of a British colonial officer who requested his parent to name him after him. Thus in real sense, Robert was his second name (not his surname or last name), his first name being Shaaban. Shaaban himself for a time wrote it 'Roberts' rather than 'Robert'. From 1922 to 1926 he was educated in [[Dar es Salaam]], coming in second in a class of 11 to receive the School Leaving Certificate under the then British colonial educational system in Tanganyika.<ref name=shaaban/>

===Career===
After receiving the school certificate, Shaaban worked at various posts as a colonial government civil servant. From 1926 to 1944 he was a customs official at different locations throughout the territory including one post at Kwale Island in current day [[Mkuranga District, Pwani|Mkuranga District]] of [[Pwani Region]]. From 1944 to 1946 he worked for the Game Department. From 1946 to 1952 he worked in the Tanga District Office, and from 1952 to 1960 he was in the Survey Office there. He worked very closely with the [[Tanganyika African National Union]] (TANU) and [[Julius Nyerere]]. Many of his civil service experiences are woven into his writings. During his lifetime he received the [[Margaret Wrong Prize and Medal for African Literature]] and was honored by the British government as a [[Order of the British Empire|Member of the Order of the British Empire]] (M.B.E.).<ref name=shaaban/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/africa/scripts/awards1.php?award=115 |title=Margaret Wrong Prize and Medal for African Literature |publisher=Indiana University |accessdate=6 January 2015}}</ref>

==Intellectual work==
Robert contributed to the promotion of the [[Swahili language]] and the struggle for the dignity of mankind. He was a celebrated [[humanism|humanist]]. He worked for [[freedom]] and [[gender equality]], and was against [[Racial discrimination|racial]] and [[religious discrimination]] in Tanzania. Tanzania's first president, [[Julius Nyerere]], had complete admiration for the late Shaaban Robert, and greatly valued and promoted his intellectual work. His was also equally respectful of both Muslims and Christians. That is reflected in his two unusual names (Shaaban—Muslim name and Robert, a Christian name).[The name Robert was in fact one of his father's several names, the others being Selemani and Ufukwe]

Sheikh Shaaban Robert succeeded in writing essays, books, prose and poems and some of his literature is part of school curricula and higher education reading. Some of his books included ''Maisha Yangu na Baada ya Miaka Hamsini'', ''Kusadikika'', and ''Wasifu wa Siti binti Saad''. His works are still being discovered and published. To date he has 24 known works.
[[File:Shabaan Roberts Grave in Tangasisi Ward, Tanga.jpg|thumb|Shabaan Roberts Grave in Tangasisi Ward, Tanga]]
[[File:Museum Plate, Tangasisi Ward, Tanga.jpg|thumb|Museum Plate, Tangasisi Ward, Tanga]]

==Legacy==
===Eponyms===
* [[Shaaban Robert Secondary School]], Dar es Salaam
* Shaaban Robert Street, a street in the Dar es Salaam CBD

==Bibliography==
* Robert, Shaaban (trans.): ''Omar Khayyam Kwa Kiswahili'' London: Macmillan, 1952, (Swahili translation of the [[Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam]], translator's pref. (in Swahili) dated Tanga, 1948.)
* Bin Robert, Shaaban: ''Utubora Mkulima (Diwani Ya Shaaban 8)'' Nelson, London, 1968
* Robert, Shaaban: ''Koja La Lugha'' Oxford Univ, Nairobi, 1969

==Further reading==
* Lyndon Harries: ''Swahili Poetry''. Oxford, 1962
* Jan Knappert: ''Traditional Swahili Poetry''. Mouton, The Hague, 1968
* Edgar C. Polome: ''Swahili Language Handbook'', 1967
* Wilfred H. Whiteley: ''Swahili: The Rise of a National Language'', 1969
* Mulokozi, M.M. (ed). ''Barua za Shaaban Robert 1931–1958'' (Shaaban Robert's Letters 1931–1958), Institute of Kiswahili Research, Dar es Salaam, 2002.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Relevant literature ==
*Abdalla, Abdilatif. "Utangulizi". Shaaban Robert: Ukakiki wa Maandishi Yake. Dar es Salaam: Longman Tanzania, 1975
*Kezilahabi, Euphrase. ''Ushairi wa Shaaban Robert.'' 1976. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau, 1982.
*Ndulute, Clement L. ''The Poetry of Shaaban Robert''. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam UP, 1994.
*Rosenberg, Aaron L. "Making the case for popular songs in East Africa: Samba Mapangala and Shaaban Robert." ''Research in African Literatures'' (2008): 99–120.

==External links==
* [http://tanga-line.tripod.com/tangasforgottenhero/ Shaaban Robert, Tanzania's Forgotten Hero]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070806030312/http://dailynews-tsn.com/shaaban.php Shaaban Robert: A legendary poet and freedom fighter]
* [http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/magazine/success/COVER--Shaaban-Robert--Father-of-Kiswahili-literature/-/1843788/2580164/-/am33lvz/-/index.html Shaaban Robert: Father of Kiswahili literature]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert, Shaaban}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:Tanzanian poets]]
[[Category:Swahili-language writers]]
[[Category:People from Tanga Region]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:20th-century poets]]
[[Category:Tanzanian Muslims]]