The Albums
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The information published on this page was kindly provided by ethnologist Jigal Beez (who interviewed Chris Katembo in March 2002) through www.asterix-fan.de. Danke, Georg! |
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Kipepe is the name of the piece of cloth Kipepe is wearing (in a southern Tansanian language). Bi Arafa (Panoramix/Getafix) is a common name of a female waganga (magician, healer) in the Swahili speaking area. All three, Madenge, Kipepe and Bi Arafa are related and members of the Wabushi people (the "Gauls"). Wabushi is a term usually used in comics for the rural population. Barukuna (the "Goths") is a fun name for the Makonde people in the south of the country. The intention of Katembo was to warn of the danger that a land conflict between shepherds and farmers in 1999 could easily evolve into a civil war. |
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Below some examples of parallels between Asterix' adventure and the story of Madenge and Kipepe (beside the general similarity of the storylines):
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The complete story (with German translation and annotations) can be found at www.asterix-fan.de. |
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Not really a translation, but still to be mentioned here is the story of Komredi Kipepe na Kisa cha Bi Arafa from Tanzania. It was published in a comic magazine called Sani (issue 65 to 71 in 2000/2001) in the Swahili language. This comic was created by comic artist Chris Katembo.
This story is of special interest to Asterix lovers as it reuses the plot of Asterix and the Goths. It's not unusual in the Tanzanian comic scene to copy succesful elements from other works. And so did Chris Katembo (Chris states that he knew four or five adventures of Asterix, but was not aware the fact that Gauls and Goths were meant to represent Frenchmen and Germans). The characters of Madenge and Kipepe (resembling Asterix and Obelix) also appear in other comics with different names.
