Swahili Concepts of Time and Space

Item

Title
Swahili Concepts of Time and Space
Description
[This diagram looks] at the Sasa and Zamani conceptions of time among the Swahili. Sasa time is roughly analogous to what Eurocentric thought calls the present, but much more nuanced including the immediate past, and the immediately impinging future (just around the corner reality).
Zamani time wholly overlaps Sasa time, but unlike it extends into the distant, if not eternal past. Again, it may be rendered in the West as the past, except it differs in that in overlapping Sasa time, Zamani time also includes the present and some small portion of that which is understood as the future. The third dimension of time is potential time which is actually much closer to what Euro-centrism calls the future. Unlike in that latter intellectual construct though, it is speculative and its character and existence is prefigured and determined by the actions that individuals and collectives take within the working realms of Zamani and Sasa. One can note here that there is no need for a ‘feedback’ loop since there is no ‘back’ there to feed to. Even the eternal past is understood as immediately and presently accessible.
Designer
Imani, Nikitah Okembe-RA
Date
2015
Source
Phillips, R. (Ed.). (2015). Black Quantum Futurism: Theory & Practice, Vol. I. Afrofuturist Affair/House of Future Sciences.
Bibliographic Citation
Imani, N.O. (2015). The Implications of Africa-Centered Conceptions of Time and Space for Quantitative Theorizing. In Phillips, R. (Ed.), Black Quantum Futurism: Theory & Practice, Vol. I, (pp. 31-48). Afrofuturist Affair/House of Future Sciences. Pages 41-42.
is depiction of attribute
English Circle
is composed of
English Circle
has attribute
English Solid Line

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