Mahiri Mwita is a lecturer in Swahili in conjunction with the Program in African Studies and leads the eight week intensive summer course in Swahili, Princeton in Dar es Salaam. He has taught Swahili at Egerton University in Kenya, where he also served as coordinator of the Swahili program, and more recently at St. Lawrence University in New York. Mwita has a particular interest in comparative literature and drama and is the author of a play, Posa (The Engagement) (1992). He has also written articles on Swahili literature and poetry. Besides his teaching duties, Mwita is working on a book, "Improvising Experiential Activities and Creative Learning in the African Language Classroom," and on two collections of poetry. Ph.D. University of Dar es Salaam.

Fauzia Farooqui is a lecturer with the Program in South Asian Studies/PIIRS.  Her primary interests are Urdu-Hindi language and literature, literary criticism, and women’s studies and she has taught Urdu and Hindi at various institutions including the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan.  Farooqui’s publications include, as coauthor, Beginning Urdu and Beginning Hindi, parallel introductory Hindi and Urdu textbooks. She has also published a monograph on Urdu prose poetry and various pieces of original Urdu poetry, fiction, and literary criticism. In addition to teaching and writing, Farooqui’s professional experience also includes a position as a Urdu-Hindi language specialist in STARTALK, the National Security Language Initiative to  promote strategically important world languages not now widely taught in the US. Ph.D. Lucknow University.

Fikeni E. M. K. Senkoro(Visiting Professor, PIIRS; September 2012 – June 2013). Senkoro is a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, where he is the coordinator of the Institute of Kiswahili Studies’ Center for Kiswahili Literature and African Oral and Written Traditions. His interests include comparative and children’s literature, Kiswahili literature and gender, and literary theory, and he has published widely in the field. His current research focuses on theory of Kiswahili literature, cartooning and comic literature in Tanzania, and women maxims and sayings from East Africa. At Princeton, Senkoro will teach intermediate Swahili I and II; readings in Swahili language, literature, and culture (taught in Kiswahili); a course in Swahili/East Africa culture (taught in English); and an additional upper-level course.  Ph.D. University of Dar es Salaam.