This paper presents a study of selected oral poems from the Digo community on the Kenyan coast, with the view of interrogating the role such poetry plays in the conservation of the ocean. Owing to the long history and popularity of poetry in the region, the worldview of communities on the Kenyan coast is carried in oral poetry, which is used to address pertinent issues in the society, like ecological violence. For this reason, the discussion of these poems is accompanied by sociological and anthropological information about the challenges that Kenyan coastal communities experience in their efforts to conserve the ocean. The poems provide a critique of human economic activities that are harmful to the marine environment, particularly those involving industries that release toxic wastes into the sea. Whereas the shore folk may not publicly condemn these economic activities, their participation in oral performance positions poetry as an act of protest. The poems also capture the intimate relationship that exists between the Digo and the sea, and in so doing reveals cultural cosmologies that call attention to the role of indigenous knowledge in the conservation of the sea.

本文提出了对肯尼亚沿海Digo社区精选诗作的研究，以期探究这类诗在海洋保护中的作用。由于该地区诗歌的悠久历史和流行，肯尼亚沿海社区的世界观是口头诗歌，它被用来解决社会中相关的问题，例如生态暴力。因此，在对这些诗歌的讨论中，伴随着社会学和人类学方面的信息，说明了肯尼亚沿海社区在保护海洋方面所面临的挑战。这些诗对人类的经济活动提出了批评，这些活动对海洋环境有害，特别是那些涉及将有毒废物释放到海洋中的工业。尽管岸上的人们可能不会公开谴责这些经济活动，但他们参加口头表演会将诗歌视为抗议。这首诗还捕捉到了迪高与海洋之间的亲密关系，从而揭示了文化宇宙论，这些文化论点引起人们对土著知识在海洋保护中的作用的关注。