- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Abbreviations
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Interlude
- 3 Born in Africa (1990)
- 4 Tears Run Dry
- 5 Singing in the Shadow of Death
- 6 Music, HIV/AIDS, and Social Change in Nairobi, Kenya
- 7 Interlude
- 8 Using Music to Combat AIDS and Other Public Health Issues in Malawi
- 9 Visual Approaches to HIV Literacy in South Africa
- 10 Ngoma Dialogue Circles (Ngoma-Dice)
- 11 Interlude
- 12 HIV/AIDS Poster Campaigns in Malawi<sup>1</sup>
- 13 Contemporary Uses of the Musical Arts in Botswana’s HIV/AIDS Health Education Initiatives
- 14 “We Are the Loudmouthed HIV-Positive People”
- 15 “C’est Le Wake Up! Africa”
- 16 Singing Songs of AIDS in Venda, South Africa
- 17 Interlude
- 18 Aesthetics and Activism
- 19 A Lady Who is an Akadongo Player
- 20 “What Shall We Do?”
- 21 Swahili AIDS Plays
- 22 Confronting AIDS through Popular Music Cultures in Kenya
- 23 Interlude
- 24 Siphithemba—We Give Hope
- 25 Young and Wise in Accra, Ghana
- 26 Singing as Social Order
- 27 “I’m a Rich Man, How Can I Die?”
- 28 Interlude
- 29 <i>Kwaito</i> and the Culture of AIDS in South Africa
- 30 Positive Disturbance
- 31 “EdzI Ndi Dolo” (“AIDS is Mighty”)
- 32 Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa
- 33 Postlude
- About the Authors
- References
- Index
Swahili AIDS Plays
Swahili AIDS Plays
A Challenge to the Aristotelian Theory on Tragedy
- Chapter:
- (p.256) 21 Swahili AIDS Plays
- Source:
- The Culture of AIDS in Africa
- Author(s):
Aldin K. Mutembei
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter examines the contributions of individual playwrights in the fight against AIDS in Tanzania. It analyzes two Swahili AIDS-themed plays, Ushuhuda wa Mifupa (The Skeleton’s Testimony, 1990) and Kilio Chetu (Our Lament, 1996), using an Aristotelian framework. It argues that the Aristotelian theory on tragedy presents several challenges for the portrayal of AIDS within Swahili drama. In addition to changing narrative forms, the chapter shows how individual playwrights speak to their audiences through culturally specific dramatic metaphors, providing a critical local gloss on HIV/AIDS and its constituent discourses. It also highlights similarities between the themes of the mid-1970s and the current theme of AIDS in Swahili literature and concludes by raising questions that will require further research into the social ramifications of this pandemic.
Keywords: playwrights, Tanzania, plays, Ushuhuda wa Mifupa, Kilio Chetu, tragedy, drama, metaphors, HIV/AIDS, Swahili literature
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Abbreviations
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Interlude
- 3 Born in Africa (1990)
- 4 Tears Run Dry
- 5 Singing in the Shadow of Death
- 6 Music, HIV/AIDS, and Social Change in Nairobi, Kenya
- 7 Interlude
- 8 Using Music to Combat AIDS and Other Public Health Issues in Malawi
- 9 Visual Approaches to HIV Literacy in South Africa
- 10 Ngoma Dialogue Circles (Ngoma-Dice)
- 11 Interlude
- 12 HIV/AIDS Poster Campaigns in Malawi<sup>1</sup>
- 13 Contemporary Uses of the Musical Arts in Botswana’s HIV/AIDS Health Education Initiatives
- 14 “We Are the Loudmouthed HIV-Positive People”
- 15 “C’est Le Wake Up! Africa”
- 16 Singing Songs of AIDS in Venda, South Africa
- 17 Interlude
- 18 Aesthetics and Activism
- 19 A Lady Who is an Akadongo Player
- 20 “What Shall We Do?”
- 21 Swahili AIDS Plays
- 22 Confronting AIDS through Popular Music Cultures in Kenya
- 23 Interlude
- 24 Siphithemba—We Give Hope
- 25 Young and Wise in Accra, Ghana
- 26 Singing as Social Order
- 27 “I’m a Rich Man, How Can I Die?”
- 28 Interlude
- 29 <i>Kwaito</i> and the Culture of AIDS in South Africa
- 30 Positive Disturbance
- 31 “EdzI Ndi Dolo” (“AIDS is Mighty”)
- 32 Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa
- 33 Postlude
- About the Authors
- References
- Index
