Interwoven poems. The materiality of oral literature and contemporary responsibility

Gewebte Matte (mkeka) aus Lamu

The rhythmic movement of skillful hands reveals an ancient craft: decorated and calligraphed mats from Lamu, an island on the East African Swahili coast in present-day Kenya, are called mikeka.

Since the end of the 19th century, the Ethnological Museum in Dahlem has kept a collection of twelve mikeka from the Lamu archipelago. These mats are special, not least because eight of them have poems in Kiswahili woven into them in Arabic script.

The mikeka tell more than just a story: they carry messages and bear witness to social relationships. They are closely interwoven with German colonial interests and presence in the Lamu Archipelago and the Witu region on the opposite mainland at the end of the 19th century. The reproduction of the Bwana Kisitavu mat kept in the collections exemplifies how the mats interweave past and present.

As archives of oral literature, the calligraphed mats from the East African Swahili coast are the starting point for a discussion between philosopher Prof. Dr. Anne Eusterschulte (Freie Universität Berlin/EXC 2020) and researchers from the Talking Mats group about aesthetic practices, the social functions of "material" communication and the need to enter into an inter-epistemic dialog.

Online registration recommended.

Price info: Free admission

Booking: booking/prior registration recommended

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 02/July/2026 18:00 bis 19:30
• Venue Forschungscampus Dahlem
• Address Lansstraße 8, 14195 Berlin-Zehlendorf