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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Intercultural Communication and African Popular Literature: On Reading a Swahili Pulp Novel
Author:Blommaert, JanISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:African Languages and Cultures
Volume:6
Issue:1
Pages:21-36
Language:English
Geographic term:Tanzania
Subjects:Swahili language
popular literature
Literature, Mass Media and the Press
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1771762
Abstract:This paper advocates a research procedure for the textual or stylistic analysis of non-Western written texts, more specifically, of Swahili popular literature, which is both ethnographic and historiographic. The procedure aims to reveal the intercultural differences between features of an African text and general expectations about the genre of 'pulp' literature in Western Europe. Taking the Swahili pulp novel 'Dar Imenihadaa' (Dar has betrayed me), written by Rashidi Akwilombe and published in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1988, as an example, the author selects and analyses three stylistic-thematic features which seem to be at odds with what one might expect on the basis of knowledge of similar pulp literatures: the realistic dimension of the work, which is revealed through the use of brand names, place names, etc.; the negative image of 'the way of the white man' and his association with the use of English; and the positive role played by 'matapeli' (tricksters). Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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