The influence of language ecology on the identity and political participation of the inland Swahili communities in the Luo region of Kenya

This article evaluates the influences of the language ecology of the Swahili speakers who settled in the Kenyan hinterland on their identity, coexistence, and political prospects. These inland Swahili communities in Luo Nyanza have suffered an identity crisis under various political regimes. They have also faced an unstable and asymmetrical coexistence with their host communities. Their attempts at active political participation and social integration have been hampered by their different social, cultural, religious and linguistic heritage. This has led to exclusion and labeling which has jeopardized their chances of communal advancement and self-determination thereby reinforcing local discriminatory attitudes that perceive them as immigrants expected to be subservient to their hosts. Although some have been assimilated through the school system, employment, intermarriage and community leadership, the majority remain in social seclusion only resorting to their religion, Islam, and fighting for official and social recognition from the limiting confines of their informal settlements. It is significant to examine the discourse that these Swahili communities use to negotiate for their political space, how they perceive their historical and present identity and how they navigate their myriad challenges to enhance their existential prospects.