| Intro | Ugandan linguist and scholar |
| Is | Linguist |
| From | Uganda |
| Type |
Literature Social science |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
Uganda |
| Death |
1977 |
Pio Zirimu (died 1977) was a Ugandan linguist, scholar and literary theorist. He is credited with coining the word “orature” as an alternative to the self contadictory term, “oral literature used to refer to the non-written expressive African traditions. Zirimu was also central in reforming the literature syllabus at Makerere University to focus on African literature and culture instead of the English canon.
Early life and education
Zirumu was born in Buganda. He attended high school at King’s College Budo, and subsequently went to Makerere University college, and the University of Leeds, where he was a contemporary of Ngugi wa Thiong’o. While at Makerere, Zirimu met Ugandan poet and dramatist Elvania Namukwaya Zirimu. They were to marry a few years later. The marriage produced a daughter.
Teaching
Zirimu later taught at the Institute of Languages Studies at Makerere, where he was involved in the formulation of standards for judging emergent African literature in the 1960s.
Published works
- “An approach to Black Aesthetics”, in Pio Zirimu and Andrew Gurr, eds. (1973). Black Aesthetics: Papers from a Colloquium Held at the University of Nairobi, June, 1971. East African Literature Bureau. ISBN 978-0860702573. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
- “Oracy as a tool of development”, in Pio Zirimu and Andrew Gurr, eds. (1973). Black Aesthetics: Papers from a Colloquium Held at the University of Nairobi, June, 1971. East African Literature Bureau. ISBN 978-0860702573. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link) with Austin Bukenya