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Literary Analysis of a Memory Book by a Schoolteacher with HIV in Rural Uganda: Writing about Living with and Dying of HIV
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 January 2023
Abstract
Memory book projects encourage parents living with HIV to write workbooks for their children about their family background and life experiences, to guide the child in the parent’s future absence. In Uganda, site of the first memory book projects in Africa, most writers have been widows with agrarian background and limited schooling. Oike conducts a close literary textual analysis of an exceptionally intensive memory book written by a schoolteacher, examines how the book helped the author to represent her traumatic experiences of living with and dying of HIV, and explores the possibilities of memory books as a tool for grassroots writing.
Résumé
Les projets de livres de souvenir encouragent les parents vivant avec le VIH à écrire des histoires pour leurs enfants sur leurs antécédents familiaux et leurs expériences de vie, afin de les guider en l’absence future du parent. En Ouganda, site des premiers projets de livres de souvenir en Afrique, la plupart des écrivains sont des veuves d’origine agraire et peu scolarisées. Oike effectue une analyse textuelle littéraire approfondie d’un de ces livres de souvenir. Celui-ci est exceptionnellement précis et écrit par un instituteur. Oike examines comment l’écriture de ce livre a aidé son auteur à représenter ses expériences traumatisantes de son vécu avec le VIH et d’en mourir. Oike explores les livres de souvenir comme outil d’écriture populaire.
Resumo
Os projetos de livros de memórias incentivam os pais portadores de VIH a escreverem manuais para os seus filhos acerca do seu passado familiar e das suas experiências de vida, de modo a orientar as crianças em caso de futura ausência dos pais. No Uganda, onde surgiram os primeiros projetos africanos de livros de memórias, a maioria dos autores destes livros têm sido viúvas com um passado rural e pouca escolaridade. Oike empreende uma minuciosa análise textual literária de um livro de memórias excecionalmente intenso, escrito por uma professora, e analisa o modo como o livro ajudou a autora a representar as suas experiências traumáticas de viver e morrer com VIH, assim explorando as potencialidades dos livros de memórias enquanto ferramenta para escrever sobre as nossas origens.
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- © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association
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