The Swahili Expressive Arts collection represents the research and scholarship of Professor Rebecca Gearhart, Ph.D., Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois Wesleyan University. Professor Gearhart has lived and studied in the community of Lamu, Kenya for twenty years, and in this collection she has selected images that best represent her work in the areas of the arts, ceremony and modern life on the East African coast. We hope that the Swahili Expressive Arts collection serves as a starting point for student and scholar research, and that Professor Gearhart's photographs and stories inspire others to explore and appreciate African societies in new ways.

Browse the Swahili Expressive Arts Collection.