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- Title
HIV/AIDS in Kiswahili and English Literary Works.
- Authors
MUTEMBEI, ALDIN K.
- Abstract
This essay discusses literary responses to HIV/AIDS by Kenyan and Tanzanian writers in both Swahili and English texts. The broad range of HIV/AIDS fiction scrutinized has been shaped by similar socio-cultural constellations in both countries; texts in both languages project a comparable social consciousness. Major issues discussed in Swahili as well as English texts include witchcraft (which has often been held responsible for the epidemic, particularly in rural areas), the tabooing of sexuality in public discourse (which makes it difficult to address allegedly 'private' matters in HIV/AIDS education), and the conflict between an older generation bent on maintaining traditional norms and values (that often regards the HIV/AIDS crisis as a sign of moral turpitude) and a younger generation clamouring for open access to information and education. In their response to these issues, writers from both countries and in both languages have not only contributed tofurthering an open debate that is needed to make people increasingly aware of HIV/AIDS but have also helped to set Swahili and English writing in Kenya and Tanzania onto converging trajectories, since the creative works on HIV/AIDS in East Africa present an interwoven body of literary texts.
- Subjects
HIV; SWAHILI literature; ENGLISH literature; SOCIAL consciousness; EAST African literature
- Publication
Matatu: Journal for African Culture & Society, 2015, Vol 46, Issue 1, p185
- ISSN
0932-9714
- Publication type
Essay
- DOI
10.1163/9789004298071_012