The focus of this study is a detailed analysis of language, form and theme as they apply to a wide spectrum of verbal art in the region. Literary and musical works from throughout Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi and the Comoros Islands are examined. A consideration of these broad regions is necessary in order to determine and describe the salient ways in which forms of creative expression are deployed as devices which reflect and radically transform prevailing ways and means of identity formation in communities.