'Alfu Lela Ulela' - The 'Thousand and One Nights' in Swahili-speaking East Africa

The present contribution deals with the occurrence of the Thousand and One Nights in East Africa, and offers a survey of available data relating to the Swahili-speaking coast of Kenya and Tanzania, Issues discussed include (1) versions of tales from the Nights documented between 1860 and 1890 that can be related to printed Arabic sources; (2) the canonical edition of Alfu Lela Ulela (1929) translated as part of the colonial endeavour and aiming to mediate world literature in the perspective of the British Empire; and (3) a new project of translating the Nights into the Swahili language initiated in 1996.