From VVU/UKIMWI (HIV/AIDS) to UVIKO-19 (COVID-19): An epistemological analysis of pandemics in Tanzania through Swahili literature

Cristina Nicolini

doi:10.13135/1825-263X/6248

Cristina Nicolini School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/6248

Abstract

This paper deals with a theme that has been a topical issue since the beginning of 2020, the outbreak of coronavirus, by comparison with the philosophical and epistemological aspects of HIV/AIDS as they are reflected in different genres of Swahili literature. I will illustrate findings obtained through my analysis of William Mkufya’s novels dealing with HIV/AIDS in a prospective way with the upcoming literature dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. The conclusions I have drawn from the analysis of the philosophical novels, by the Tanzanian intellectual William Mkufya, will be the departure point for my follow-up research on the epistemological, ontological and phenomenological aspects of Covid-19 in Tanzania through different genres of Swahili literature. The potential objectives of this forthcoming research will be the following: firstly, to establish a fictional genre that articulates knowledge about Covid-19; secondly, to explore the evolution of Swahili language used to communicate messages on Covid-19; thirdly, to illustrate the changes undergone by literature after the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak; and finally, to investigate the philosophical perspectives characterising this literary stream: Humanist or post-humanist?

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Author Biography

Cristina Nicolini, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Cristina Nicolini, PhD in “African Languages and Cultures” (SOAS - School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London, 2021), is a researcher in Swahili literature and culture as well as African philosophy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in “Oriental and African Languages and Cultures – Arabic and Swahili” cum laude (“L’Orientale”, Naples 2013); a Master’s degree in “Sciences of Languages, History and Cultures of Mediterranean and Islamic Countries” cum laude (“L’Orientale”, Naples 2015); a II level Master’s degree in “Economics and Institutions of Islamic Countries” cum laude (LUISS Guido Carlo, Rome 2017). She can be reached at:

mailto:656298@soas.ac.uk or christina.nicolini@gmail.com